Fallen Angel
by SolusLupa Kouken
Summary: *Being Rewritten* Three years after the Meteor events. Things don't go according to plan for the scientist, Diagus, as his new project goes awry on a simple mission. Turns out Jenova wasn't the only danger to fall from the sky two thousand years ago.
1. The Awakening

Disclaimer: Sephiroth, the land of The Planet, and all the other Final Fantasy 7 stuff belongs to Squaresoft. Daigus and Rhiannon are mine as are all the other original things. ^_^   
  
A/N: This is Fallen Angel version 2. some other number. I still want to thank my friend Destiny Kurogane, who helped me smooth out problems of the first chapter in Version 1. I decided to rewrite some of the stuff because it has too much cliché stuff and it's my old style of writing which is now atrocious. So, I give thee, Fallen Angel Chapter 1 Version 2. whatever the number. ^_^ Please Enjoy and Review! It's still very similar to Version 1, but it has changes!  
  
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The clock struck five in the dank and slightly damaged lab where a man sat writing in a journal. His jet black hair pulled back in a loose ponytail that reached his mid-back while his bangs hung down at his chin. His steely gray eyes were fixed on the page of a journal that he was writing in. His pen moved across the paper quickly and he had an expression of mad excitement on his face. In his excitement, the man paid no attention to his form of writing, but merely wrote down everything in his head.   
  
_'Science Log- I have done it! The genetic fusion the female human and female being was a success. Even though I had to move the project here after Sephiroth destroyed Hojo's lab. She was unhurt and still sleeps inside the tube, which I filled with a special liquid to keep her in a cryogenic state as I worked on the project. The naive human volunteer for the fusion had no idea what I was going to do to her. And the other creature, the mystery... I found her body in the crater. She escaped from Hojo, but not from me, in the end. She will be the perfect soldier. I doubt even professor Hojo, my teacher, could have done this.'  
  
'The specimen has taken on a whole new appearance, but still retained some qualities of both of the original creatures. From what the computers say, the girl will have the powers and abilities that the being had, but apparently the fusion erased all the knowledge of using them. I'm hoping the behavior modification that I used during the fusion will work. I made sure that she has all the intelligence and strength of both human and creature, but her memory has been completely wiped away.'  
  
'The armlets that I have created to put on her forearms when she awakens will suppress and control her powers. I have kept her alive by feeding her through tubes, much like a mother feeds her fetus in the womb. She will be strong when I wake her. A mask was placed over her mouth and nose to provide oxygen for her body and there's a slight reverse suction that takes away the carbon dioxide that she breaths out. Hojo would have never thought of such a thing. I must test it...'_  
  
The doctor closed the book, stood up, and walked over to a large cylinder tube attached to one wall. He grabbed a rag and wiped the condensation off the thick clear wall. He stood back and looked at the creation within. A girl was inside the container, completely stripped of clothing. Her eyes were closed and her hair floated about her in a lazy fashion, but the color was masked by the liquid's own coloration. A strange thing she was, indeed. However, the rest of her features were clouded by the fogginess of the glass surrounding her.  
  
"Time to awaken, my perfection," said the man in an icy voice with a rather sadistic giggle.  
  
The man pressed a few buttons on a keypad and the tube began to get noticeably foggier. The strange liquid inside began to bubble a bit, and then it drained out of the capsule. The feeding tubes were retracted and the mask was removed from her face. The girl's eyes slowly began to open, shutting again the first few times she tried, as a result of their sudden exposure to light. But finally, she was able to force herself to keep them open. The doctor was shocked when he saw that they were an enchanting, light violet-blue. Such a strange color, he thought, But there's something else...! And indeed, her eyes held a strange glow much like someone who had been exposed to Mako.  
  
The door slid open. The girl stumbled out and struggled to keep herself upright as the liquid dripped off her nude body. Silver hair fell past her hips, dripping with the same liquid and some of it covered the front half of her bare form. On one cheek she had three slim, triangular scars and another scar cut diagonally over her right eye. She was tall, slim, and obviously muscular. The doctor slightly astonished to see that her bangs had somehow turned as white as fresh snow and they were grown out to her shoulders. There were three long, dark red scars on her left upper arm and a matching set of the same scars on her right forearm. A black 'S' was tattooed on the top of her right hand with a black number '1' tattooed right next to it.  
  
"W... Where am... I?" asked the girl in a hoarse voice, gazing at the scars that cut horizontally across the middle of her palms with minor interest.  
  
"You are in my lab," replied the doctor, "I am Professor Daigus, your..." He searched for the right word. "Caretaker. Come, you must be cold"  
  
"Yes," said the girl, looking dazed, "I believe I am." She raised her gaze to him. "Who am I?"  
  
"You are... um..." Daigus flipped through his journal, "Your real name is unknown... Hmm."  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Rhiannon, blinking and staring at him, "My real name is unknown?" She looked like a thoroughly confused child  
  
"I mean that I'll give you a name," replied Daigus, giving her a crooked smile before tapping his chin in thought, "I will call you, Rhiannon." He pause for a moment, considering something. "But I think I shouldn't give you a family name."  
  
"Family name?" said the newly named Rhiannon, "What's that?"  
  
"We'll discuss it later, dear," replied Daigus, smiling his crooked smile, "I have a few errands for you to run."  
  
"But..." started Rhiannon, who hadn't noticed her own nakedness yet.  
  
"What I want you to do is to retrieve a few special items for me. Most are in an ancient city, but one is in a crater," said Daigus, looking through his journal.   
  
"Am I to travel like this?" asked Rhiannon, finally noticing that she was nude, but was strangely not ashamed.  
  
"Of course not," replied Daigus, looking her up and down, "I have everything set out for you that you will need." He picked up the metal armlets. "Oh! Put these on, too."   
  
"Where?" asked Rhiannon, looking around as she took them.  
  
"There," replied Daigus, pointing to a room. "Change in there." She slowly made her way into the indicated room, and shut the door.  
  
Rhiannon pushed her hair back over her shoulders and pulled on the clothes that had been set out for her. A shirt with the sleeves cutting off above her elbow, but no fabric covered her shoulders. Her pants were form fitting and tucked into her black boots, which were made of a sleek, synthetic material and cut off at mid-shin. She tied a dark gray sash around her waist with the knot and ends to one side. As Daigus told her to do, Rhiannon put the armlets on, starting both times when the armlets made a noise and clamped shut.  
  
Rhiannon looked at herself in the mirror and looked at the markings. She tore a piece of fabric from an old cloak and tied the black material around her forehead. The girl was unsure as what to do with her long hair. She twisted it into a clumsy braid, and then secured it with another strip of black cloth. She looked down at the weaponry that had been left her. Knowing she might need to quickly defend herself, she strapped a dagger to each thigh and pulled a black, fingerless glove over her right hand to cover the tattoo.  
  
"I guess these will do," said Rhiannon, walking out after picking up the pack.  
  
Daigus was feeling awfully giddy at the moment. He saw that she was ready to go. "Oh! Don't forget this." He handed her a black cloak, like the one she had seen, only it was clean.  
  
"Food?" asked Rhiannon, looking at the doctor.  
  
"Ah, yes, in the kitchen," replied the doctor, "In that room there."  
  
Rhiannon headed in the direction shown to her and picked out some random foods, setting them on a small table. She carefully wrapped them and managed to stuff them into her pack. Once finished she walked back to Daigus and found him circling places on a map.  
  
"What is this?" asked Rhiannon, looking at it.  
  
"Map," replied Daigus, handing it to her, "You will go to these places that I have circled here, here, and here. Oh, if you are ever asked your age, you're twenty-three. Now, get going and find those artifacts."  
  
"Yes, sir," replied Rhiannon, nodding and walking out of the room.  
  
"It works," muttered Daigus, smirking, "I'm only twenty-four and I've created perfection. Hojo couldn't have done anything this spectacular. And to think it's only been two years since the destruction of Meteor..."  
  
Rhiannon walked out of the run down building and looked around. Even though it was night, she could tell that the area was a terrain of mountains and trees. She suddenly felt very dizzy, and even a little nauseous. She shook it off and continued on the beaten path. She spent a long time walking up to the topmost region of the mountains. When she finally made it, she rested on a flat rock, watching the rising sun stain the sky pink.  
  
"I'll start off once the sun is high in the sky," said Rhiannon, sitting there and watching the sun continue to rise, thinking about where she was going to go.  
  
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I decided to change the name, hair, and eye color of the girl. Daigus is still a twisted scientist. Rhiannon may have knowledge, but she's as naive as a new born child. Her innocence only shows when she's completely clueless about things. I hope this is better than it used to be! ^_^ Please Review!   
  
SNEAK PEEK!: (You might know this already, but I can't resist putting up sneak peeks! o.o I'm an obsessive compulsive sneak peek writer!)  
  
** Rhiannon starts her journey and learns the meaning of RUN FOR YOUR FREAKIN' LIFE!   
  
** She meets up with three familiar characters, but they all act differently towards her. One is friendly, one is untrusting, and one is just plain mysterious about it.  
  
** Rhiannon has a dusty roof over her head courtesy of her new friends.  
  
^_^ WHEE! Find out all of these in the next rewritten chapter of Fallen Angel! Hooshah!  
  
  
  
  



	2. The Journey Begins, With Running

Disclaimer: Once again, Everything from Final Fantasy 7 belongs to Squaresoft. The hybrid monsters are my idea, but the originals belonged to Squaresoft of course. All original stuff still belongs to me!   
  
A/N: Hey! Here comes Chapter Two Version 2. whatever. Everything's being changed to an expanded format and of course there are more changes. In our last chapter, we met Daigus and Rhiannon. It's time to meet some more people and watch Rhiannon go on her first journey!  
  
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Rhiannon woke up with a start and realized that she had fallen asleep while watching the sunrise. She stood up, pulling her pack back on and walked down the path away from the lab. She looked around, trying to figure out where she was and then looked at the map. Daigus had written a 'L' to show where the lab was and Rhiannon scanned the map to figure out what towns she was near.  
  
"Hmmm," mused Rhiannon, looking at the map, "Gongaga Town and Cosmo Canyon. Maybe they know how I can get to Bone Town."  
  
Rhiannon wandered in the direction of Gongaga Town and ran into several creatures along the way. Only having her daggers to defend herself, she had to rely on her other abilities, but the girl was an awkward fighter. She used everything she had to cut down the monsters that got in her path, but had to run when a pair of Grand Horn hybrids attacked her. Words sprang from her mouth as she ran, surprising the girl quite a bit, but common sense told her not to stop running to think.  
  
"Curse these damn things!" Were the words as she ran towards Gongaga. "These weapons suck! I can't fight a whole pack with these daggers! Daigus told me about these creatures, but he didn't give me good enough weapons to fight. The knowledge I have about fighting monsters doesn't cover the new hybrids that have appeared." She sped up as the creatures continued to chase her.   
  
The girl ended up running straight past Gongaga and towards the area where Cosmo Canyon was because one of the creatures blocked her path to the other town. She spent the rest of the day running from the creatures because they just wouldn't stop and continued past Cosmo Canyon, cursing as she went by. Eventually, Rhiannon got to the forest near Nibelheim and clambered up a tree. She threw strange fruit that was in the tree at the creatures and growled.  
  
"Scram!" shrieked Rhiannon, throwing a stick at the nearest one, "Go find something else to eat!" A series of howls made the two monsters stop and look around.   
  
The pair of Grand Horn hybrids seemed to realize something Rhiannon didn't and suddenly took off running, vanishing over the horizon. The girl slid down from the tree, looking around the area, but saw nothing. She was about to continue when she saw several yellow eyes gleaming in the gathering darkness behind her. Rhiannon heard a snarling coming from the shadows and started to back away in the direction of the town. _I wonder if I can make it to town,_ she thought, watching the eyes in front of her, _Might as well find out. _  
  
Rhiannon turned and started to run like hell, but heard the pounding of paws behind her. Wild howls shattered the silence of the late evening as the sun set in the west, staining the sky blood red. The girl felt something slam into her back and was sent to the ground from the impact. She groaned, looking up to find herself staring a Nibel Wolf in the eyes. Drool was dripping from its toothy jaws and it gazed at the fallen girl with a hungry look in its eyes.   
  
"Um.... Hello," said Rhiannon, smiling nervously and then spotted the rest of the pack. "Oh, I see you brought friends..." She started moving away from the creature. "Um... Bye." She leapt to her feet and ran at breakneck speed towards the town.  
  
Pain engulfed her leg as a sharp jaw of teeth sank into her limb and Rhiannon stumbled before falling over. The wolf let go and leapt backwards as the girl tried to kick it, but it joined the rest of the pack. She looked up to see all the monsters closing in on her, snarling at her with their hackles raised. Her eyes widened when she saw the wolves get ready to pounce and screamed as they leapt forwards at her. In a vain attempt to defend herself, the girl pulled out her daggers and tried to fight them off.  
  
The girl lost her daggers when one of the monsters knocked her over again and she retreated to the tree. Scratched, bitten, and bleeding all over, Rhiannon scrambled up to the highest branch that she could reach. The Nibel Wolves started jumping up, trying to clamp their jaws on to the girl's nearest limb, but she broke off parts of the branches around her and threw them at the beasts. In desperation, she pulled off part of her branch and swung it at the monsters, trying to get them to go away.  
  
Rhiannon heard a crack and looked at the part of the branch behind her where the stick had come from. One of the monsters had clamped its teeth to the branch and hung there, trying to get the branch to break. _Damn!_ thought Rhiannon, staring at the wolf, _These things are smarter than I thought!_ Before the girl could react, the branch broke, and she tumbled down to the trunk. She landed on the ground and pressed herself against the tree, shaking and very tired.  
  
"Damn," said Rhiannon, panting as sweat trickled down her face, "I just got out into the world and now I'm gonna die." She looked at the sky in anger. "Someone up there really hates me! Don't they?"  
  
Rhiannon was surprised to be looking up at a pair of slender, blood red eyes that belonged to a man, who was perched on a branch above the one that had broken. A red bandana was tied around his forehead and his silky black hair hung down to his shoulder blades. He wore a black set of shirt and pants with a collared, red cape draped around his shoulders. Rhiannon saw a gun held in one of his hands, but she noticed with a slight start, that the man had a metal arm that ended with claws.  
  
"Who are you to journey alone in such dangerous places?" he asked in a voice that held a nonchalant tone.  
  
Rhiannon was so shocked that she didn't respond, but continued to stare at the man, unable to tear her eyes from his. A Nibel Wolf leapt at her and she shrieked when she saw it, but there was a shot and the animal fell dead in front of her. The girl looked from the man above her to the dead Nibel Wolf and back, completely speechless. Two more wolves charged at her, but with a flash of steel, the creatures fell dead on top of the first monster. Rhiannon looked to her right to see who the source of the steel was.  
  
A man with blonde, spiky hair was standing there with his blood stained sword drawn and resting on his shoulder. He wore a blue pair of pants with a shirt that had no sleeves, but a piece of armor covered his right shoulder. Brown gloves with metal armor on his hands, but the right one extended to his elbow and ended with a metal elbow pad. His bright blue eyes were glowing in the shadows and were gazing at Rhiannon with a look of mild annoyance  
  
"Are you _another_ weaponless traveler?" asked the blonde haired man, slicing another wolf in half.  
  
More of the wolves were being taken care of by a woman with long, brown hair that had the ends secured by a red band. She wore a leather skirt with a white halter top attached to the skirt by black, leather suspenders. She had red fingerless gloves on her hands with a black section that went up to her elbows, ending with elbow pads. Her brown eyes were narrowed in concentration as she took out more wolves with various martial arts moves.  
  
"She might've been caught off guard, Cloud," said the woman, looking at the blonde haired man, who was slicing more wolves up.  
  
"Or she's a defenseless traveler," said Cloud sourly, "There's been an increasing number of people traveling without weapons these days."  
  
"D... Defenseless?!" sputtered Rhiannon in anger, "I'm not weak!" She gave the swordsman a glare. "And for your information, I do have weapons!" The girl stopped talking, not understanding why she had an outburst like that.   
  
"Then why didn't _you_ fight these things?" asked Cloud, looking over at her, "And where are your weapons?"  
  
"You try fighting a whole pack of those things with two weak daggers!" yelled Rhiannon, her cheeks turning slightly red in anger, "I was chased here by two weird hybrids and then attacked by these things!" She tried to get up, but sunk back to her knees clutching her side, where a deep gash was. "I lost my daggers when I got knocked over by one of those things!"   
  
"Don't strain yourself," said the woman in a gentle voice, walking over to her and placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.  
  
"I'm fine," muttered Rhiannon stubbornly, getting up and steadying herself against the tree, "I've had worse." She frowned when she heard those words come from her mouth and thought. _Where the hell did that phrase come from?_  
  
"You look oddly familiar," said the woman, gazing at the girl in front of her with thoughtful eyes.  
  
"Well, I've never met you people before," snorted Rhiannon as a feeling of distrust gripped her heart, "Who the hell are you?"  
  
"I'm Tifa," replied the woman, holding out her hand, "Tifa Lockheart." She retracted her hand as Rhiannon stared at it in confusion.  
  
"What about you?" asked the girl, looking at Cloud as he put his sword away, "What's your name?"  
  
"Cloud Strife," he replied shortly, giving her a hard look, "How about telling us your name."  
  
"My name's Rhiannon." The girl paused a bit when she saw Cloud's expectant look. "Um... Just Rhiannon... I have no... What did he call it?" She tapped her chin. "Oh, yeah. Family name."   
  
"What who called it?" asked Tifa, blinking in slight surprise at Rhiannon.  
  
"The one who aw.... I mean..." Rhiannon stopped her reply and thought, _Daigus might not want me to tell anyone about my mission._ "My caretaker." To divert attention from herself, she looked up at the man above her. "What about you, stranger? Do you have a name or shall I make one up?"   
  
"Vincent Valentine," replied the man without changing the nonchalant look in his eyes, "I'm returning to town." He moved into the shadows, vanishing like a specter.  
  
"Did I say something wrong?" asked Rhiannon, looking at the other two with an apologetic expression, "If I did... I really didn't mean to..."  
  
"Oh, it wasn't you," said Tifa, smiling reassuringly, "He just isn't very social with new people. Don't worry about it."  
  
"Well, that's good," sighed Rhiannon, looking relieved, "Say, is there a place I can stay in the town? Like an inn? Because I need to recover from this attack."  
  
"How long are you going to stay here?" asked Tifa.  
  
"As long as it takes to recover and figure out the best route to where I need to go," replied Rhiannon, shrugging a bit, "I don't have enough money to pay for the inn though." She tapped her chin. "I could try to camp or something..."  
  
"You can use my old house," sighed Cloud after Tifa gave him an urging look, "Since Tifa and I live in her house, no one has stayed in it. I don't want it to fall into disrepair, even though that has already happened."   
  
"It needs a little fixing up," said Tifa, nodding at Cloud before looking at the girl, "But it's usable. It would've been fixed up sooner, but instead we did a renovation on my house to add more rooms because our friends tend to drop by every now and then."  
  
"I could fix it," suggested Rhiannon, "I know how to fix a lot of things." _Why did I say that?_ she asked herself, _ I just woke up from a cryogenic sleep. How would I know how to fix things?_  
  
"We'll help out whenever we can," said Tifa, smiling warmly at the girl, "There's still a lot of monsters to clear out of the surrounding area. All these new hybrids have shown up, but they aren't coming from any of the reactors nearby."  
  
"That sucks," said Rhiannon, leaning against the tree, thinking. _Daigus had some creatures in his lab... Maybe he's behind the hybrids._ "It's getting dark. We should probably get back to the town before even more of these creatures decide to mob us."  
  
The three walked back to the town, but Rhiannon was lagging behind because of her leg and their pace slowed down. They eventually made it back and Cloud reluctantly lead the girl to his old house. The outside was a bit rundown, but the inside was still fairly clean and in good enough shape to use. Rhiannon set her pack down and sat on one of the beds. She looked at a smiling Tifa and Cloud, who was busy staring around the room with a nostalgic look in his eyes.  
  
"Thank you for letting me stay here," said Rhiannon, smiling at the two people in front of her.   
  
"Let me help you with those injuries," said Tifa, "Cloud could you go see if the item shop is still open? She'll need a potion or two and we'll need supplies for tomorrow when we fix the house." Cloud nodded and walked out as Tifa helped Rhiannon clean and dress her wounds before changing into a sleeping outfit.  
  
"Where did you come from?" asked Tifa as Rhiannon pulled on some form fitting, yet slightly loose black pants, "You don't seem to be from around here."   
  
"Nope," replied Rhiannon, pulling on a large, short sleeved shirt that reached just below her hips, "I came from an area near Gongaga, but I can't say where I used to live."  
  
"Why not" asked Tifa, tilting her head a bit, gazing curiously at Rhiannon and thought. _She almost looks like Sephiroth when she has her hair down... Except for the white parts of her hair and her eyes are different, but... They have the same glow... I wonder where those scars came from..._  
  
"I don't know," replied Rhiannon, sitting on the bed with a sigh, "I only know the route. I don't know the name of the place or the area. I just know that it was near Gongaga." A feeling of sorrow gripped at her heart, which confused her. _These emotions make no sense,_ she thought, _I might as well ignore them for now._  
  
"We can talk about it in the morning," said Tifa, standing up, "You should get some sleep. The beds aren't very dusty because of the dust covers we put over them."  
  
"Thank you," said Rhiannon, pulling one off of the bed farthest away from the door, "I guess I'll see you and Cloud in the morning."  
  
"You bet," said Tifa, smiling, "We'll help you find the place you need to go and if you need anything, we're the next house over. Vincent lives up at the old Shin-Ra Mansion if you can't find us. Good night."  
  
Tifa left the house and Rhiannon slipped under the covers, sinking into the soft mattress. She stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before snuggling into the blankets and falling into a peaceful sleep. Outside Tifa met up with Cloud, who had returned from the shop with a few potions and supplies to fix the house. Neither noticed someone lurking in the shadows as they walked towards their house, talking quietly.  
  
"Did you notice how similar that girl's appearance is to Sephiroth's?" asked Tifa, finally speaking the question on her mind.  
  
"Yeah," replied Cloud, looking unhappy, "I get the feeling that she's going to cause a lot trouble for us and our friends. I don't trust her." He scowled as he and Tifa went back to their house to sleep, never noticing something slip right into the old house.  
  
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Yep, Rhiannon's kind of a moody person, but she can't sort out her emotions very well and she doesn't understand all the knowledge that Daigus stuffed in her head. I figured Tifa would be friendly towards a stranger, but Cloud would be a bit more grumpy about it. Vincent seems like the type who wouldn't converse with a new person. I hope I captured their personalities as they are supposed to be.   
  
SNEAK PEEK!: (Whoo!)   
  
** Who's that freakin' mysterious shadow anyway? Someone new? or someone old?  
  
** Jeez... Someone's a twisted, freakish lunatic. Guess who!  
  
** Some boring work to create peace after a scary night of shock. Plus! Rhiannon learns the meaning of nicknames! ^_^   
  
  
  
  



	3. Conflicts, Work, and Nicknames!

Disclaimer: All Final Fantasy 7 characters and stuff belong to Squaresoft. All original people and stuff belong to me.  
  
A/N: Whoo! Chapter three version 2. whatever. Now we get to see who the shadow is and how freaky a certain character can be. Someone has a change of heart when he sees something happen. Rhiannon learns what nicknames are! Whoo! ^_^ lol. Please Enjoy and review!   
  
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The person in the black cloak slipped into the house that Rhiannon was in and walked over to where she was sleeping. In one quick and silent motion, they grabbed Rhiannon by the shoulders and shook her awake. Immediately, Rhiannon sprang out of bed and got in a battle stance behind the person, wincing and stumbling a lot from her injuries. She blinked and stared around the darkness to seek out the person who woke her up, but could find no one. _I must've imagined it..._ she thought, relaxing and turning to go back to bed.   
  
Suddenly, Rhiannon felt one arm wrap around her, pinning her arms to her sides and another hand clamp over her mouth. She tried to scream and wrench out of the grip, but her voice caught in her throat and the pain from her wounds kept her in check. She felt herself get dragged from the house to a tree outside and soon found herself pinned up against it. Quickly, the person used a hand to pull the hood off and Rhiannon stopped struggling when she saw Daigus' face.  
  
"Oh... It's just you, Daigus," said Rhiannon, sighing in relief, "What are you doing here?"   
  
"I was following you," replied Daigus, smiling a bit and scolding the girl, "You should've been at the first town by now."  
  
"I ran into some trouble," said Rhiannon, wincing as Daigus gripped her arm tightly, "What's wrong? You seem tense..."  
  
"Why were you with those two people?" asked Daigus, an angry look in his eyes, "What were you doing with them?"  
  
"They saved my life, Daigus," replied Rhiannon in a small voice, looking confused at his anger, "They don't mean any harm."  
  
"Those two are _enemies_!" snapped Daigus, gripping her shoulders with both hands, causing the girl to cry out in pain.  
  
Daigus ignored the girl's pleading to loosen his grip and didn't notice the attention her cry had caught. The mysterious Vincent Valentine was sitting in a tree above them, staring at the stars, but at the sound of the voices, he looked down at them. _Daigus?_ he thought, narrowing his eyes, _It can't be. That lunatic supposedly died when Hojo's lab was destroyed. What is that girl doing with him._ He heard the girl whimper as Daigus tightened his grip on her arms and she spoke with a voice full of confusion.  
  
"How can those two be enemies?" She whimpered again. "They helped me and I'm in their debt." She yelped when Daigus dug his fingers into her arms. "Daigus! Why are you acting this way?! I don't understand what's gotten you so angry with me."   
  
"You shouldn't owe anything to those two," said Daigus, narrowing his eyes, "You shouldn't even go near them."  
  
"W... Why not?" asked Rhiannon, her whimpering tone becoming defiant, "They're nice and they weren't shocked by my appearance at all. Tifa helped me bandage my wounds. They even let me use Cloud's old house, though I think Cloud and Vincent don't trust me at all. I wonder why."   
  
"Stay away from them!" yelled Daigus, gripping Rhiannon's shirt, pulling her face a bit closer to his, "Those two are enemies and my enemies are _your_ enemies!" His eyes were glowing in anger and his voice was slightly demonic and threatening.  
  
"Let go of me," said Rhiannon, frowning at him as the feeling of defiance grew stronger, "My enemies are _my_ enemies. Your enemies are _yours_, not mine! I have nothing against these people and I owe them."   
  
"I like your attitude," said Diagus, giving the girl a smirk that frightened her, "Just don't forget your mission." He used one of his hands to raise Rhiannon's chin up when she looked away. "You have a mission to do, so don't stay around here too long. I'll be back in a week to see if you've left." His face got so close to Rhiannon's that their noses almost touched. "Are you frightened?"  
  
"M... Maybe," replied Rhiannon, trying to move away from Daigus, "I don't like you getting this close to me." Her voice was shaking. "I don't know why you're acting like this."  
  
"You're beautiful when your frightened," said Daigus, giving her a twisted smile that repulsed and scared the girl even more.  
  
"This is becoming even more disturbing by the second," said Rhiannon, trying to edge away even more with her eyes full of fear.  
  
One of Daigus' arms wrapped tightly around her waist, his hand against her back and he drew the girl closely to him. Rhiannon could see the mad lust in his eyes and closed her eyes, turning her head away to get rid of the image that was terrifying her. She felt his hand under her chin and was forced to look at him as his face drew nearer. His mouth met hers roughly in a deeply passionate kiss that made the girl's head spin, but the situation stirred a feeling of hatred deep inside her.  
  
_Kick him in the balls! _screamed a voice in Rhiannon's head as Daigus continued to press her to him in the kiss.   
  
Rhiannon was frozen in shock and her body wouldn't respond to the voice's prompting, but Daigus let go and stepped away, chuckling. A twisted smirk was on his face as he watched the girl step uneasily back into the tree behind her. She leaned against the tree and sank down to sit underneath it, shaking in fright and staring at the ground. She looked up at him, but her eyes weren't full of fear, a murderous look was painted on them and the man took a step back.  
  
"I'll return in a few days as opposed to a week," said Daigus, quickly regaining his composure, "You'd better continue the mission or you'll be punished." He turned, vanishing into the shadows, leaving Rhiannon to wipe her mouth with her arm.   
  
"Why... Why couldn't I stop him..." She said to her silent surroundings, "Why does he scare me so much and... What was that feeling of hatred? I've never felt it before..." She stood up, feeling her body still shake. "That was... Disgusting..." Rhiannon wrapped her arms around herself. "Damn... I feel so violated. Perhaps I should've listened to that voice and kicked him when I had the chance."   
  
Rhiannon started to walk away when she heard something softly land behind her and in her state of edginess, the girl decided to attack. She swung her fist at the person behind her as she turned with her eyes closed and felt something cold and metal catch her wrist. The girl opened her eyes to see a metal hand wrapped around it and moved her gaze to the owner of said limb. She met the anger filled eyes of Vincent Valentine and opened her mouth to speak, but found nothing to say. Rhiannon couldn't tear her eyes from his strange eyes and fear seemed to course through her body, causing her to shake again. He backed her into the wall and gave her another piercing look before words were spoken.  
  
"Are you working for Daigus?" asked Vincent coldly, glaring at her, but then he saw the fear in her eyes. _I recognize that look... _he thought sorrowfully, _That's the look that 'he' would give me when Hojo wanted to take him away to the lab for experimentation._ He let go of her wrist and Rhiannon leaned against the wall of the house, sliding down to sit against it.   
  
"How... How do you know him?" she asked in reply, staring up at him with baleful eyes.  
  
"I suppose we can talk about this tomorrow night," muttered Vincent, seeing how upset and shaken the girl was about the topic.  
  
"O... Ok...." said Rhiannon quietly, as she closed her eyes to try and calm herself down, "Please... Don't think that I'd hurt you, Tifa or Cloud because Daigus hates you three..."   
  
Hearing these sensible words instead of seeing tears struck a soft spot that Vincent had tried to bury for the past two years. _Just like 'him'_, he thought, looking at the girl, _No tears, just words._ He knelt down in front of the girl and spoke quietly. "Go get some rest... Perhaps you should consider the question of why you're doing any favors for Daigus."   
  
Rhiannon looked up to stare at the man, but he had disappeared to the old mansion. "Maybe he's right..." She stood up and walked inside the house to go back to sleep. Her slumber went undisturbed until daybreak.  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
The next morning, Tifa and Cloud found Rhiannon already up and working on the house with some supplies Cloud had brought over the night before. They noticed Vincent sitting quietly in the shadows, watching Rhiannon with a fairly nonchalant look in his eyes, but they noticed that there was a glint of curiosity. The girl heard their footsteps, looked up, and gave them a cheerful smile. Neither of the two in front of her saw the hidden unease in her eyes, but Vincent did.  
  
"Morning," said Rhiannon, brightly, "How'd you sleep?"  
  
"Like a rock," said Tifa, yawning a bit, "The battles we had yesterday were exhausting."  
  
"How about you?" asked Rhiannon, smiling at Cloud, who scowled at her and turned away.  
  
"Fine," muttered Cloud in a grumpy tone, "Just fine."  
  
"Don't mind him," said Tifa, chuckling before adding in an undertone, "He's always like this in the morning."   
  
"Well, I've managed to do a few minor repairs," said Rhiannon, looking at the house. _I'm still curious as to HOW I knew how to do the repairs._  
  
"Minor?" said Tifa, staring at the repairs, "You've already repaired the windows and door. When did you get up this morning?"  
  
"I woke up around sunrise," replied Rhiannon, putting brushes on the cans of paint, "Had some trouble sleeping, but I didn't start working until a more decent hour. From the looks of it, there's still a lot of work to be done."  
  
The three started to work on the little house's walls and siding before painting them. After that they started working on all the repairs that needed to be done inside the house and that task took them to lunch. After some rest and food, the trio returned to their job and started to work on the roof. Rhiannon had some trouble with the shingles because they kept slipping away from her, provoking the girl in to cussing up a storm before Tifa suggested using they switch places. It was dinner when the roof work was finished and they went inside to wash up. Within two hours of washing and then cooking, they all sat down to dinner and talked about the day.  
  
"You seem to be adapting to this place already," said Tifa, cutting up some meat, "How do you manage?"  
  
"I don't know why," answered Rhiannon after swallowing a bite of meat, "But this place seems so damn familiar." She looked around the house. "If I didn't know better, I'd say I've been here before."  
  
"You sound like Cid," commented Cloud, drinking some water, "You cuss as much as him."  
  
"Cid?" said Rhiannon, looking confused, "Who's he? Another dude who lives here?" Her gaze went to Tifa.  
  
"Cid Highwind," replied Tifa, tearing a roll apart to butter it, "He's one of our friends, but he lives in Rocket Town."  
  
"Oh," said Rhiannon, taking a drink from her cup with a thoughtful look on her face. "Thank you for the dinner, Tifa. I think I'll turn in for the night." She got up and smiled at them. "Good night, you two."  
  
"Good night," said Tifa, putting down her knife, "I hope you sleep better than you did last night."  
  
"Same here," agreed Rhiannon, stretching a bit, "See you, Cloud."  
  
"Bye," said Cloud, absentmindedly tearing his napkin, "We'll be gone tomorrow because we have something to do."  
  
"Ok," said Rhiannon, pushing her chair in, "I might be leaving soon, too. I hope you get what ever you're going to do done. Sayonara."  
  
"Thanks," said Tifa, smiling at the girl, "Have a good sleep, Rhia."  
  
Rhiannon stared at her in innocent puzzlement. "Rhia? Who's that?"  
  
"You're Rhia," answered Tifa, laughing a bit, "It's a nickname."  
  
"What's a... nickname?" asked Rhiannon, saying her last word slowly.  
  
Both Cloud and Tifa gaped at her when she said these words, but it was Cloud who spoke what each one was thinking. "You mean you don't know what a nickname is?"   
  
"Um... No," responded Rhiannon, looking thoroughly confounded, "What is it? The word sounds like some sort of object."  
  
"A nickname is something you call a person for short," explained Tifa, "Your name for instance could have the nicknames Rhia, Rhian, or whatever else you can make of your name."  
  
"Oh..." said Rhiannon, thinking a bit, "So you could be Tif and Cloud could be Clo?" She had the look of childlike innocent in her eyes.  
  
Tifa laughed at the nickname for Cloud. "I guess so, but our names are fairly sort, so you can call us by the full name."  
  
"Um... Alright," said Rhiannon, scratching her cheek a bit, "I'll ponder about it later after I get some sleep." She wandered out of the house, still thinking about it.  
  
"Is it just me," stated Cloud, turning his gaze to Tifa, "Or is that girl really naive about simple things like that?"  
  
"Maybe she just doesn't remember those things," remarked Tifa, shrugging a bit, "She's like a small child in an adult's body."  
  
The couple cleaned up the table and talked while Rhiannon traveled back to the place she was staying, thinking about the nicknames thing. She paid no attention to anything in front of her and ran into a firm chest with a smack. Staggering back a bit, the girl looked up and saw Vincent standing there with his haunting eyes trained on her with a slight hint of curiosity. _I wonder if he goes by any nicknames,_ thought Rhiannon, staring at him in wonder and she shivered a bit from his gaze, _I could ask..._  
  
"Hello Vincent," she said with a smile, "How have you been today?"  
  
"I have been fine," he answered, not returning the smile.  
  
"I... Um... Have a question for you," said the girl, looking a bit awkward.  
  
"Yes?" replied Vincent, giving her an odd look, "What do you want to ask me?" _Why does she sound so nervous?_ he thought._What kind of question does she want to ask?_  
  
"Um... Do you go by any nicknames?" was the query that took the mysterious man by surprise. "Like Vin, Vince, Vivi or Vinny?  
  
Vincent stared at her in complete bewilderment as he thought. _Why is she asking this?_ It was a few minutes before he replied. "I prefer to be called Vincent." He paused a bit. "Why do you ask?"  
  
"Just curious," answered Rhiannon, scratching her head, "Tifa told me about nicknames and I was pondering about them. I didn't know that names could be shortened like that."  
  
Once again, Vincent gave her a stare of bewilderment, "Um... Interesting." He shook his head a bit. "Rhiannon, I'd like to talk to you about how you know Daigus."   
  
"Might as well," sighed Rhiannon, shrugging, "I plan on leaving tomorrow, so this is the best time." She looked up at him. "Are we going to talk out here?"   
  
"No," answered Vincent, turning a bit, "Follow me. We can talk at the old mansion. There's more privacy there." He walked up the path towards the house with the curious girl walking after him.  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
There are a lot of stories about Vincent being around Sephiroth when he was a kid, but that Vincent tried to take him away later in the boy's life. I'm going with that story line a bit, so Vinny has a soft spot for those memories and even though Rhiannon looks different, she still somehow reminds him of Sephiroth. I also thought about the fact that Vincent might still feel guilty about Sephiroth being killed and 'failing' Lucrecia.   
  
^_^ Heh... I thought Rhiannon not knowing what a nickname was would be kind of cute and funny, but it would also show how clueless she is. Though seeing her attempt the nickname thing with the other three was amusing. The girl's like a new born child, yet she has a ferocity buried deep inside her that came out when she gave Daigus the murderous glare. Daigus kinda has two sides of his personality.  
  
SNEAK PEEK!:  
  
** Vincent and Rhiannon exchange explanations about each knows Daigus.  
  
** Vincent reveals a few things to Rhiannon about the past that makes her have some odd reactions.   
  
** After the lovely discussion, the gal decides to leave Nibelheim, but what pushes her into it?  
  
  
  
  



	4. The Pain of Memory

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 7 characters and stuff belong to Squaresoft. The original stuff belongs to me. The basic idea of Vincent's story goes to Squaresoft, but I tweaked it quite a bit. So, now his explanation is mostly my idea.  
  
A/N: Well, I guess I have to update this for people to see it ^_^() In our last chapter, Daigus harassed Rhiannon, Vincent scared Rhiannon, and our poor girl still doesn't understand much. She did some work with her new friends using knowledge she didn't know she had. Let's find out what Vincent and Rhiannon talk about. This shall be quite interesting. Please Enjoy and review!   
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Rhiannon stared up in silence at the dilapidated mansion with it's peeling paint, creaky door, and loose shingles, but when they walked in the mansion, the girl had to gasp at the inside, which was fixed up and clean. Her guide walked upstairs and to the right, leading the girl to a room where part of the wall was stone. She watched in slight awe as he pushed in one of the stones and part of the wall slid out of sight. Vincent disappeared down the winding staircase and Rhiannon followed, looking around in amazement, having never seen such a sight. At the bottom of the stairs, Rhiannon's eyes widened as she saw the dark, dank passage that stretched out in front of her. Vincent walked down towards a door at the end and the amazed girl soon followed, speechless as she gazed at the architecture.   
  
A movement in the shadows caught the girl's eye, making her stop and gaze at the spot in profound curiosity before moving a little closer. Two faces seemed to loom in and out of view, one smiling and one frowning. Suddenly, a decrepid-looking hand shot out from the darkness straight at the girl, who drew back with a yelp of fright. A humanoid creature with two lolling heads slunk out from the shadows reaching out with its pallid hands, trying to grab on Rhiannon. Her yelp had alerted Vincent, who was now half way down the hall, and he turned just as the creature got hold of Rhiannon's arm with its clammy hand, getting ready to throttle her. Whipping out his gun, Vincent carefully aimed and then fired two shots at the monster, hitting it in both heads.  
  
"You have to be careful," said Vincent as the creature collapsed in a dead heap, "There are still a few creatures that I haven't cleared out."  
  
Rhiannon nodded and ran over to him in fear of getting attacked by another creature. "What... What was that?"   
  
"A Ying / Yang," replied Vincent as they continued down the passage, "You're lucky it didn't just throw a Bolt 2 or Ice 2 spell at you."   
  
They reached the end of the hall and Vincent pushed open the door to reveal a room full of shelves of books. Rhiannon gazed around the room drinking in the scene before her and noticed a few pieces of old lab equipment that seemed out of place. Vincent sat down in a chair that he had put there for when he read the books and saw the girl looking around, the glow of her eyes was accented by the fact that the room was very dim. He gestured for her to sit in a chair near him and she did so with an expression of someone trying hard to remember something, but couldn't.  
  
"Would you care to explain first?" asked Vincent, causing Rhiannon to snap out of her daze and look at him, "How do you know Daigus?"  
  
"I only know what I remember," replied Rhiannon, sighing and looking at the floor, "He's the one who woke me up... I came from his lab because he 'revived' me or something. He said he needed some items and I'm just on a mission to find them. I don't know what he wants with them and I have no idea why you hate him so much. Or why he hates you, Cloud, and Tifa."  
  
"Don't you know who or what he is?" asked Vincent, giving her an intense stare, but he only found question in her eyes.  
  
"No," replied Rhiannon, raising her head to look at him, "I only remember things from when I woke up in his lab. All I remember before that is being stuck in darkness with something cold around me, like a liquid and images flashing through my head."  
  
"Anything before that?" asked Vincent, his red eyes not leaving hers.  
  
"No," answered Rhiannon, sighing, "I don't know anything. What's your story? How do you know Daigus?"  
  
"I don't necessarily need to start at the beginning, but I've known about Daigus since I was a member of the Turks," replied Vincent, resigning to the fact that he wouldn't find anything out from her, "Daigus was the assistant to Hojo, a sick and twisted man who believed he was a real scientist."  
  
"Hojo...." whispered Rhiannon, her eyes becoming unfocused and slipping back into a daze, "The scientist... Hojo..."  
  
Vincent stared at the girl in front of him as she gazed at the wall with a blank and glassy look in her eyes. Observing her closely, he said her name loudly and even got up to place a hand on her shoulder, but she gave no response to his touch our voice. _What is going on?_ thought Vincent as he shook her lightly, _What's wrong with her?_ His shaking did the trick and Rhiannon snapped out of her trance, shaking her head with a hand on one side. She still looked dazed, but she blinked a bunch of times and looked at the man as he sat down.  
  
"What was that all about?" asked Vincent, giving her an intense stare with a slight trace of concern in his eyes.  
  
"That name..." said Rhiannon, putting a hand to her head again, "It sounds so familiar, but I have no idea where I've heard it before." She shook her head again and sighed. "Anyway, continue your story."  
  
"Fine," said Vincent, sitting back down in his chair, "I'll just tell you my whole story, so you understand all the events that have happened in the past."   
  
"I'm fine with that," said Rhiannon, "It might do me some good to know the past events."   
  
"I was a Turk when I met Lucrecia and her husband, Hojo," explained Vincent, "They were working together and I spent time with Lucrecia during her work. We became lovers, but Hojo had come up with the idea for his newest experiment with Jenova cells. He approached his own wife with a proposal to have a child for the experiment. I implored her not to go along with it, but her mind was made up and while she was pregnant with her child, Hojo was injecting her and her unborn baby with Jenova cells."  
  
"What a horrible man," muttered Rhiannon, shaking her head, "That poor woman and kid."  
  
"A few months later, Lucrecia came to me with some concerns," continued Vincent, "She told me that her pregnancy didn't feel right and she feared for her life and her baby's life. We made a plan to run away together, but Hojo caught on and stopped us. Lucrecia was locked up and only let out for the injections. After nine months of this torture, she finally gave birth to a baby boy, but she never got to hold him. Hojo had the baby taken away and Lucrecia died calling out to hold her son."  
  
"That's terrible!" exclaimed Rhiannon, looking absolutely horrified, "What an evil man! What happened to her son?"  
  
"I spent several years looking after the boy, but then I decided to take him away," replied Vincent, "But Hojo caught me before I could get away and when I tried to attack, he shot me. I woke up a while later and he turned me into this." He stared at the floor. "I slept in a coffin for years and dreamt of the horrors that I could have saved Lucrecia and her child from. Cloud and his group came and found me. I joined them and helped them defeat all the enemies they faced during their mission. Unfortunately, we had to fight Lucrecia's son, but he was finally put to rest and could find peace. Yet, I still feel guilty." Rhiannon could see that he wasn't telling her everything, but she decided not to push him.  
  
"You shouldn't feel guilty," said Rhiannon, looking at Vincent's sorrowful eyes, "You did what you could and her son has finally found peace."  
  
"You have no idea what it feels like to fail the person you loved," said Vincent shortly, his gaze turned cold and he glared at Rhiannon, "You can't understand the feeling."  
  
"Did the boy have any friends other than you?" asked Rhiannon in a meek voice, trying to amend her mistake.   
  
"I do remember that he became friends with a girl that Hojo captured and experimented on," replied Vincent with a far off look, "She stayed in the cell next to his and had several permanent scars on her body."  
  
"What was the boy's name?" asked Rhiannon, looking him directly in the eyes.  
  
"His name was Sephiroth," replied Vincent, noticing that when he said that name Rhiannon's eyes widened and were starting to become glassy and blank again.  
  
"Sephiroth..." said Rhiannon, falling back into a daze, "I've heard that name... I know I have and I didn't hear it from Daigus." Her mouth was slightly open, but then she spoke in a flat voice. "Sephiroth... Someone from the past..." Her expression became a frown. "From... My past..."   
  
Vincent stared at the girl in total shock after she spoke those words and noticed that once again she didn't respond to any of his words or touch. _What's going on?_ thought Vincent, staring at her, _Did my story trigger some sort of memory?_ He moved forwards to shake her like he did the last time as her head drooped, so her gaze was at the floor, but her hands flew to her head as he got closer. Vincent started and moved back as Rhiannon tumbled out of the chair on to her knees with a cry of pain and her eyes squeezed shut.  
  
"Rhiannon," said Vincent, watching the girl in front of him whimper, "What's wrong?" He was surprised that Rhiannon responded to his question.  
  
"Pain," muttered Rhiannon in a hushed voice, "It hurts... Why does it hurt when I try to remember..." She started to shake. "What the hell is going on?" The black haired man before her took a step back as a static feeling filled the air.   
  
"I'll go get Tifa," breathed Vincent, turning and starting to rush to the door, but he froze when he heard Rhiannon's next words echo from the darkness.  
  
"Meteor..." said Rhiannon, the pain could be heard in her voice, "Sephiroth... Summoned Meteor with the black materia... It hurts..." Her hands moved to the middle of her chest and she cringed.  
  
"What..." whispered Vincent, turning to look back at the girl and was surprised to see her looking at him with deep, unseeing eyes that seemed like a window to her very soul. He saw pain, fear, and guilt. "Who are you?"  
  
"I am the lost soul who was forced back to life," hissed Rhiannon in reply with a voice quite unlike her own, "So much pain this soul remembers, but a force keeps them back... So many people died by the soul's sword, but at the same time, the soul died at the hands of her lover." A strange glow seemed to emit from the girl's person. "The Dark Angel has awakened from her sleep..."  
  
"Dark Angel?" breathed Vincent, his eyes widening with something that had never been there before, fear.   
  
"The pain and guilt still torments the soul," said Rhiannon in the same strange voice, "Chained by the man called Daigus... She will continue to feel pain as she tries to remember... Her freedom will never be won so long as the dark master still keeps her in shackles..."   
  
Rhiannon's head suddenly snapped up and she let loose a scream full of pain and anguish. Vincent fell backwards over a pile of books, startled by the words she spoke and the scream, but immediately got back up. The girl's eyes seemed to roll back in her head and she fell sideways, losing consciousness and her scream stopped. Vincent swiftly walked over and checked on her, seeing sweat trickling down the girl's fairly pale face. In one fluid motion, he picked the limp girl up and walked out of the library to take her back to the house. He silently moved through the shadows to where the girl had been staying and found the door unlocked.   
  
"She should consider locking this when she's out," murmured Vincent as he set Rhiannon in the bed and pulled the covers over her. He looked at her silently before deciding to settle down in a corner of the one room house and fell asleep.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *   
  
The next morning, Rhiannon woke up in a small panic, falling out of the bed with a crash._What the hell..._she thought, sitting up to look around, _How'd I get back here?_ She saw Vincent still asleep in the corner and smiled. _Hmm... I guess underneath all those hard layers, he isn't such a bad guy, but what happened last night... I remember Vincent's story... After he mentioned a name... I don't remember much after that..._ She glanced at the sleeping man again. _I should leave before I cause any more problems._ Quietly, Rhiannon collected her things, wrote a note, and crept out of the house with an unusual amount of stealth. Once she was outside, running up the path, the girl thought she was on her way when a voice made her stop.  
  
"Where are you going?" Was the question that froze Rhiannon in her tracks.  
  
The girl turned around to see Vincent standing there, looking at her. "Vincent... I have to go..."   
  
"Why?" asked Vincent, giving her one of his nonchalant stares.  
  
"I have to..." replied Rhiannon, looking away, "I can't stay here anymore... People might get hurt if Daigus came back to fetch me..." She turned and started walking away. "Good-bye Vincent."  
  
"Why do you put up with him?" came another question that made the girl stop, "You don't have to fear him."  
  
Rhiannon moved her head to look at Vincent, "He's the only one who knows why I'm in pain like this... He can fix it... And I don't want people getting hurt on my account..." She turned away again. "Just let me go... And... And don't follow me..." Before the man behind her could speak, the girl sprinted down the path and out of sight behind some trees.   
  
"I hope you know what you're doing," whispered Vincent, turning to walk back to the girl's house to read her note.   
  
Rhiannon continued running down the path, following the directions on the map, with one thought in her mind.   
  
_Here I come City of the Ancients..._  
  
* * * * * * * * * *   
  
Whoo. *wipes brow* bit of a shocker there, aye? I guess there's more to Rhiannon than we all thought o.o() The girl that Sephiroth befriended when he was little is a creation by me. They never said that he didn't have any friends when he was little, so I took the idea and ran with it ^_^() Hope you liked this one. Please review!  
  
SNEAK PEEK!:   
  
** Intermission! Let's see what the other lost soul is doing!  
  
** Oooo!!!! Pretty place! ^_^ We are introduced to Medius aka Limbo aka Purgatory! You decide!  
  
** Guess who else is in Medius! But for a different reason! ^_^   
  
  
  
  



	5. Intermission at Medius

Disclaimer: All the Final Fantasy 7 characters and stuff belong to its creators at Squaresoft. All original stuff and characters belong to me. The idea of Sephiroth having a love life before he went insane is also mine #points at couch# ALSO MINE! Clementia and Lucifer are deities from mythology. Sanctus and Spirita are mine They're making an appearance in this fanfic from my original story 'From Mercenaries to Guardians.' (The first two chapters are posted on fictionpress.com. Check my profile for the link to my fp.com profile)  
  
A/N: I just want to say this. The whole purgatory / Medius thing is from my own belief system. Yes, I have an interesting set of beliefs o.O() This particular chapter may create a lot of questions because only some of the things are explained. Well, enjoy version 2.0 of chapter five of Fallen Angel! Just a warning, it's long X.X Also, FF.net has recently done something that prevents me from usuing my usual symbols to signify a note at the end or dividers, so now I have new ones. You'll know them when you see them.  
  
    # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #  
  
   The room faded around two men, leaving only a sliver of light shone down to illuminate the area. One of the men was the ex-soldier known as Cloud Strife, and the other was unknown until he stepped into the light. Cloud glared at the man, his mako eyes blazing with pure rage as the man started to laugh. The unknown man's bright green eyes were poisoned with mako and glowed in the darkness. His flowing, silver hair fell a few inches past his hips, the bangs grown out to his shoulders.  
  
         The man was wearing black pants with black boots ending at his knees, and a black trench coat that was belted around the waist with silver shoulder guards resting on both his shoulders. Two leather straps crisscrossed over his bare chest and were attached to his belt. The man began to take off his trench coat, armor, and leather straps, which were now shredded by the recent battle, and threw them to the ground. He then pulled off the black gloves on his hands.   
  
"Sephiroth," growled Cloud, unsheathing his broadsword, "This ends here and now."  
  
"Wrong, puppet," chuckled the man, taking out a long, slightly curved sword, "I'll slice you up with the masamune and then follow my mother to become one with the planet." Sephiroth smirked as he shifted to a battle stance.  
  
"Jenova is dead," said Cloud, glaring at Sephiroth, "We defeated her before you came and attacked all of us. She was destroyed and now you will join her."  
  
         Cloud and Sephiroth charged at each other and started to fight with their swords. Sparks flew as their blades collided, but Cloud began to gain the upper hand as the other man backed off. Using this to his advantage, the ex-soldier slashed Sephiroth several times, but the silver-haired man came to his senses and fought back. The two continued to exchange blows through out their fight until a strange sound made Sephiroth stop and gaze around at his surroundings. The melodic sound brought images to his head as he gazed blankly at the shadows and spoke words that made his foe stop in confusion.  
  
"Is that her?" he whispered more to himself than to Cloud, "Can that be her?"  
  
         Sephiroth suddenly felt the bite of Cloud's blade in his back and turned to see his own blood flowing to the floor as Cloud took a step away from his opponent. The silver-haired man knew he was beaten when he saw his enemy raise his sword to strike the final blow, but he never felt it. Darkness had already taken him before the blade was plunged into his body and a strange floating feeling took hold of his senses.   
  
         The man woke up to find himself floating within a strange liquid and he was perplexed at the fact that he could breath. Upon looking around he saw the single person whom he had thought of gliding towards him, a gentle smile on her face and a loving look in her eyes. They embraced within the glowing liquid of the Lifestream and Sephiroth finally felt at peace. He let go of his thin connection to his body and allowed himself to be completely consumed by the Lifestream.   
  
"Neona," he whispered, feeling a warmth surround him.   
  
"Sephiroth," sighed the woman, "We're finally together again."  
  
         The peace that was felt didn't last long, for a few moments after their embrace, the liquid started to swirl around like an ocean during a raging storm. The woman clung tightly to Sephiroth, but he noticed that she was becoming less and less solid. She looked at him with terror in her eyes and he saw that her image was starting to fade. It was like a strange force was trying to pull them apart and the tighter their grip on each other was, the harder the force tugged.  
  
"What's happening?" asked the woman, looking at him, "Sephiroth...."  
  
         Sephiroth stared in horror as the one person he wanted to stay with for eternity was fading out of the lifestream, but she still clung to him. He held her tightly, trying and wishing he could hang on, but the force broke the embrace and tore them apart. He watched as the woman started to vanish like strips of fabric being torn away from a cloth. She reached out her hand to him and he grasped it tightly as she continued to fade into nothing. A roaring rose in the Lifestream, but her soft voice seemed to pierce through the noise to reach his ears.  
  
"Please, find peace," She said, tears flowing from her eyes, "Something is pulling my spirit away from this realm, but I don't know where it is going. Just remember that no matter where I end up. I will always love you, Sephiroth..."   
  
         Before the woman faded, she pulled herself to Sephiroth with their faces inches apart and she tilted her head a bit. Their lips touched, causing Sephiroth to feel warmth spread through his body again, but as she drew back, the rest of her form faded into nothingness. Sephiroth stared at the spot in shock, his lips were still tingling slightly from the kiss. He suddenly fell to his knees in the sea of glowing liquid and yelled with all his emotions of anguish, pain, rage, and torment. Darkness took his mind once more, but this time, he didn't even try to fight it.   
  
         --------------------------------------------  
  
 Sephiroth woke up yelling and bolted into a sitting position on a bed. He put one hand over part of his face and breath hard, feeling cold sweat trickle down his skin. Tears were flowing from his eyes, mingling with the sweat, and he looked around. He realized that he wasn't in the Lifestream anymore and his clothes were different. A room was around him and his leather clothes were now a black tunic and pants. He remembered blacking out after the event that had haunted his dreams, but he wasn't sure how he had gotten to such a place.   
  
"Dammit," muttered Sephiroth, sighing heavily, "I couldn't find any peace in life and now peace evades me in death. I lost her in the living world and now even after death I lost her again, but do I even deserve to be with her?"  
  
"Why do you ask questions?" asked a voice to his left, causing Sephiroth start so badly that he nearly fell out of the bed, "Calm down, child. I will not hurt you."  
  
         The man's long hair was as white as the new fallen snow and his eyes were a soft, pale blue that glimmered with kindness. He wore a white tunic with white pants, but there was a strange gold crest splashed on the front of the tunic. An odd white aura glowed about his person and Sephiroth stared as he saw the white dragon wings on the man's back. He looked young, yet he seemed to send out this vibe of great age and wisdom. There were strange white markings all over the man's body and even some on his face.   
  
"Child?" asked Sephiroth, growling, "How dare you call me a child!"  
  
"You are a child to me, Sephiroth," remarked the man, chuckling, "I'm thousands of years old."  
  
"Where the hell am I?" demanded Sephiroth, still glaring at the man, "And who are you, old man? Explain yourself now!" He reached for his sword, but didn't find it. "Where's my sword?! What have you done with it?!" He growled at the man again.  
  
"Sephiroth, calm down," said the man, smiling, "I'm a friend, you can trust me. You knew of one of my students, Neona. She should have been here, but she wanted to wait for you first." Sephiroth stared at him in shock when he heard the man speak of the woman he had cried over. "Unfortunately, something has happened in the living world that tore her spirit from this realm. I am her teacher, guardian, and godfather."  
  
"Yes... I knew her," said Sephiroth, listening, "But what is your name?"  
  
"My name is Sanctus#," replied the man, "One of the deities of this realm." He chortled. "Though, I'm usually not in this particular area, but since this is a special occasion, I made the trip."  
  
"What's with the dragon wings, gramps?" asked Sephiroth, eyeing the wings with one of his eyebrows raised.   
  
"My true form is a white dragon," replied Sanctus, chucking at Sephiroth's surprised expression, "I'm usually in a humanoid form, so I can walk around freely without any fear or worry of stepping on someone or knocking something over."  
  
"Why am I here?" asked Sephiroth, "Shouldn't I be in the depths of Hell burning for all the crimes I've done? I don't even deserve to exist here."  
  
"You were raised by a very evil man," explained Sanctus, "Lucifer, lord of Hell, can't take you because there was still some purity in your heart when you died."  
  
"Am I in Heaven?" asked Sephiroth in disbelief, looking around.  
  
"Not quite," replied Sanctus, gesturing around the room, "You're in Medius## or Limbo as some people call it. It's not Hell, but it's not quite Heaven. It's where souls wait for their second chance or their judgment. The council is meeting right now to decide about you."  
  
"Who or what is the council?" inquired Sephiroth, looking confused.  
  
"The council is made up of the gods, goddesses, archangels, and all the others who are up here," replied Sanctus, "I was sent here to answer all your questions. I know you have many questions about your past and the truth."  
  
"I want to know..." said Sephiroth quietly, not looking at the man, "The truth about my past."  
  
"Well, from what I was told," answered Sanctus, sitting down, "Your mother's name was Lucrecia and your father was Hojo-" Sephiroth cut him off instantly.  
  
"Hojo?!" exclaimed Sephiroth, standing up, "That _thing_ was my father?!"   
  
"I'm afraid so," replied Sanctus, sighing, "Lucrecia thought he had good intentions, but all he wanted to do was experiment. She got weaker because of the Jenova cells injected into her and you while she was pregnant. After she gave birth to you, Hojo took you away and she died, calling out to hold you. You remember what Hojo did to you during your childhood, but you also met someone else."  
  
"Neona..." murmured Sephiroth, hanging his head, "It's my fault she died."  
  
"It was _Jenova's_ fault," said Sanctus firmly, "Not yours. You are not the only one being sent back. Aeris is going back to the plane of the living because she has her own mission to accomplish. The Cetra have already agreed to let her go back." Sephiroth stared at the dragon as he said these words, remembering the girl.  
  
"You mean that woman I killed in that ancient city?" asked Sephiroth, slightly afraid of the answer, "Because I think that may have been what Strife called her."  
  
"Yes," answered Sanctus, sighing, "I'm afraid that was Aeris."  
  
"I don't deserve to go back to living," said Sephiroth, leaning back against the wall and staring at the floor, "Can't I just stay dead?"  
  
"No," said Sanctus sharply in reply, "Someone's life will depend on you being there. They will need you because they have no idea who they really are, but you might."  
  
"Why should I care about some random person," muttered Sephiroth coldly, crossing his arms.   
  
"You cared about this person," replied Sanctus, giving the man in front of him an intense look, "Once you meet her, you will want to stay there and help her. You might be the only person who can help her find out who she really is."  
  
"_Her_?" said Sephiroth, his head snapping up to stare at Sanctus, "What do you mean?"  
  
"You're the only one who will be able to help her," said Sanctus, keeping a steady gaze on Sephiroth, "I have reason to believe that somehow Neona's been revived, but she's someone else or so she thinks."  
  
"You're lying!" yelled Sephiroth, refusing to belief such a thing had happened.  
  
"I most certainly am not," said Sanctus firmly, standing up and looking the silver-haired man straight in the eyes, "She doesn't know what she's doing! Daigus is manipulating her like Jenova manipulated you!" A faint white glow had surrounded him as an angry fire burned in his eyes.  
  
"W... What?" stammered Sephiroth, staring at Sanctus in surprise and feeling slightly intimidated by the aura the dragon was emitting, "Daigus?"  
  
"You remember him, don't you?" asked Sanctus, narrowing his intense eyes.  
  
"Yes..." answered Sephiroth, lowering his head, a dark look in his eyes, "He kept going after Neona many times, yet she eluded him."  
  
"He's at his old tricks of genetic fusion again," said Sanctus, sitting down in his chair with a sigh, "I remember Neona had to split her form, so Daigus would go after the human version of her. Unfortunately, he caught not only her, but he retrieved Neona's body from the crater. He had genetically fused them, thus pulling her soul from this realm back to her body."  
  
"What?!" burst out Sephiroth in complete astonishment, "So... She is alive?"  
  
"She looks quite different and has no memory of her past," replied Sanctus, shaking his head, "She can't use most her original magic either, so she's really vulnerable. Sometimes she can use a bit of her magic, but it drains her fairly easily. I want you to go back and protect her."  
  
"Like I did last time..." muttered Sephiroth, sighing, "How can I? It's my fault she died."  
  
"She'll be pulled into a living hell if you don't go back to the realm of the living!" exclaimed Sanctus, standing up again, "Daigus has some sort of plot and she's involved! The plot he has is not only sick and twisted, but it might kill her again! Stop blaming yourself for something that _you_ yourself didn't do."  
  
"Do you know where her new body is now?" asked Sephiroth.  
  
"She's in Nibelheim at the moment," replied Sanctus, watching Sephiroth's face, "She doesn't remember what happened there at all, but she feels it. I believe she's going to head towards the ancient city first, but she'll go to the crater after that."  
  
"Why does she have to go to _those_ two places?" asked Sephiroth, recalling a few painful memories of the crater and the ancient's city.  
  
"Daigus gave her a mission," replied Sanctus, sitting back down in the chair, "She's supposed to find items at the different areas, but all she'll find are her old weapons. Most of her things are at the ancient city, but her sword is in the crater. I remember that she created a special item that she stored all her memories in and placed it in her family's temple."  
  
"When do I find out if I get to go back or not?" asked the silver-haired man.  
  
"Right now," said a voice behind him, causing Sephiroth to turn around.  
  
         Sephiroth's eyes fell on a woman with golden hair that fell to her ankles in waves with a circlet of silver and gold was around her head. Her soft, hazel eyes were fixed on him with a gentle gaze and her gold dragon wings rustled slightly. She was dressed in a Greek style white dress with gold trimming and symbols. There was a silver cape sewn to the back of her dress and then attached to straps around her wrists, the middle of her upper arms, and to her shoulders.   
  
"Who are you?" asked Sephiroth, staring at the woman as she smiled.  
  
"This is my wife, Spirita###," replied Sanctus, getting up to embrace the woman, "She's in charge of calling the meetings. She has more power than I do, but that's only because she's the assistant to the goddess of mercy and clemency, Clementia."  
  
"She's the one who believes that you should get another chance," stated Spirita, sitting down in a nearby chair, "I just got out of the meeting that concerns you, Sephiroth."  
  
"What did they say?" asked Sanctus, looking at his wife, "Is he allowed to go back?"  
  
"They want to get Aeris on her way first," explained Spirita in reply, smiling, "But he's allowed to go back to the realm of the living. Though, Sephiroth," She looked at him. "There is a few side affects of this. Your body is going to revert to how it was when you were 24, I don't know why, but Clementia estimates that you were that age before Jenova took your mind. You'll have all your memories, but the hateful emotions towards all of mankind won't be there. You won't recognize Neona's new form and she won't recognize you, but she might have been given some information about you. The girl only remembers certain things, but nothing about who and what she used to be."  
  
"Who am I going to encounter first?" asked Sephiroth, "Will I run into her or someone else? Where am I going to end up once I got back to the living world?"  
  
"So many questions," chuckled Spirita, smiling, "I'm not sure who you're going to meet first, but you will end up where you were killed. Inside the crater which now has only one cave. Don't worry, no monsters are running around there, but there are several hybrids being produced by Daigus. You must stay in that area until the girl arrives."  
  
"Lady Spirita," said a voice, as a woman appeared in the doorway, "Clementia requests your presence before I leave." She leaned against the door frame, looking worried.  
  
         The young woman had waist-length, chestnut hair that had been pulled back in a braid tied at the top with a pink ribbon. Her bright green eyes, which were currently gazing at Sephiroth, held a look of innocence and knowledge. She wore a sleeveless, pink dress with a red jacket over it, and brown boots. Sephiroth looked her over, faintly recognizing her appearance, and his eyes moved to the staff in the girl's hand before moving back to her face. He resisted the urge to flinch when he saw the girl's steady gaze lock with his.  
  
"Aeris," said Spirita, smiling and standing up, "Don't look so worried. You'll be fine."  
  
"Cetra?" inquired Sephiroth, staring at Aeris in bewilderment.  
  
"Sephiroth?" said Aeris, staring at him for a few moments, but then smiled, "Clementia must have approved of you coming here rather than being lost in the Lifestream."  
  
_She's smiling at me?_ thought Sephiroth in confusion. _Why is she smiling? I thought she would have screamed at the sight of me._  
  
"Aeris," said Spirita, walking over to the girl, "It's time to go back. No doubt your body will rest next to the lake that you were put in, but rest assured that no monsters can touch you."  
  
         Aeris nodded and followed Spirita out the door, leaving Sephiroth to gaze after them with a look of utter disbelief on his face. He snapped out of his daze when Sanctus laid a hand on his shoulder and upon turning his head, saw Sanctus grinning at him. Sephiroth shrugged off Sanctus' hand and laid back down on the bed to stare at the ceiling. Everything Sanctus and Spirita had said tumbled through his thoughts mingling with the memories that were resurfacing.  
  
"It will be your turn soon," said Sanctus, sitting back down in the chair, "It won't take that long to send her back."  
  
         After an hour and a half, Spirita returned to find Sephiroth and Sanctus playing a game of chess. She shook her head as she watched her husband lose the game when he left his king open to his opponent's queen. The white dragon was quite impressed with Sephiroth's tactics in the game of chess and was very surprised when the silver-haired man set down his queen diagonally from his king.  
  
"Checkmate," declared Sephiroth, smiling slightly, "You left that side open for a finishing move."  
  
"I can't believe it," murmured Sanctus, staring at the board, "Only two people have ever beaten me. My wife and Neona. You're quite the opponent and your tactics were impressive. Much like a battle strategy for the military."  
  
"I _was_ a general in SOLDIER," stated Sephiroth, glowering at the memory of that organization, "That's where I learned most of the strategical skills."  
  
"Oh," said Spirita softly, gazing at him, "There is one thing you have to know; Shin-Ra isn't gone." She noticed the man's confounded expression and sighed. "I'm afraid there was a survivor that kept the organization going. Actually, many of them survived, but it took them a while to recover from the incident in Midgar. There are also rumors that Rufus also survived."  
  
"How?!" exclaimed Sephiroth in pure astonishment, "The Diamond weapon blew up his office."  
  
"It's just a rumor," remarked Sanctus, shrugging, "But there is someone running a new Shin-Ra."  
  
"They are a threat to the planet," growled Spirita, her eyes flashing dangerously, "I wish they had been destroyed, but unfortunately we can't touch them directly. So, that's also part of the mission."  
  
"When do I get to go back?" asked Sephiroth, leaning back in his chair.  
  
"Soon," replied the gold dragon, her scowling face changing to a gentle one, "Once Clementia has rested a bit, which will only take a half an hour. I suggest you get ready to depart and Sanctus will tell you the rest."  
  
"Why me?" asked Sanctus, glancing at his wife, "You have the information."  
  
"I've told him all I can, dear," replied Spirita, chuckling, "It's your turn now."  
  
"Alright," sighed Sanctus, watching Spirita leave before turning to the young man to start explaining, "Well, you basically know what's going on down on the planet. Aeris is supposed to help restore order, but you are the one who is to stop Daigus from causing more destruction than Hojo could've caused. All Daigus needs is the girl we've been monitoring and she seems to play a major role in this whole system of events, but we don't know how." He sat down in the chair next to Sephiroth and continued.   
  
"Most likely when you encounter her, Aeris will be with her because she's going to run into the girl first. I believe the girl's heading for the ancients' city right now, but be warned this girl is confused and doesn't understand a lot of things. From what we've seen, she isn't one to talk very openly to people and can easily escape from a group, so keep an eye on her when you two meet. She's very vulnerable and naive to the horrors that Daigus has planned for her, but she's a bit more cautious since she had a talk with Vincent." He noticed that an emotion flashed through Sephiroth's eyes when he mentioned Vincent. Nonetheless, the dragon continued.  
  
"Without protection, this girl would be an easy capture for Daigus because of something he did to her. We think it might be her armlets that suppress the majority her powers and can help Daigus control her. At the moment, she's been experimenting with what little magic that's available to her, which is illusionary work. Spells are out of the question for her because something keeps interrupting them and creating a back shock. Though, she is becoming quite the trickster." He chuckled.  
  
         Sanctus continued the long lecture about the mission and the girl until it was almost time for Sephiroth to go back. Spirita walked in to find the young man asleep on the bed and her husband sulking in a corner, glowering at Sephiroth. Apparently, the silver-haired man had fallen asleep while Sanctus was babbling on and on about a boring topic that had nothing to do with the mission. Spirita chuckled and walked over to the sleeping Sephiroth.  
  
"Sephiroth," whispered Spirita, shaking him gently by the shoulder, "It's time to go."  
  
"Finally," muttered Sephiroth, yawning a bit before getting up, "So, I have to stay in the crater and the area around it, right?"  
  
"Yes," replied Spirita, nodding, "I'm afraid so, but don't worry, you'll get some supplies to last you until the estimated time when the girl may arrive."  
  
"Shall we go?" asked Sanctus, standing up, "Clementia cannot be kept waiting."  
  
"Follow me," said Spirita, walking down the hallway with Sanctus and Sephiroth following after her, "Clementia is in the gardens near the Pool of Renovatio####."  
  
         Sephiroth followed the two dragon guardians outside into a large and beautiful garden. Ahead he saw a tall woman dressed in white and gold, standing next to a crystal blue pool with a staff in her hand. He saw a pair of large, white angel wings folded on her back and a silver circlet was placed on her head. Her white hair fell in waves to her feet and her violet eyes watched Sephiroth in a manner of scrutiny. He noticed that they glimmered with amusement and a few traces of pride.  
  
"So," said the woman in a melodic, accented voice, "This is the great Sephiroth."  
  
"Yes, Clementia," replied Spirita, bowing gracefully to the woman.  
  
"He is here for your inspection," said Sanctus, sweeping his hand down while bowing.  
  
"He looks ready to be sent back," said Clementia, smiling at Sephiroth, "To be sent back to your now restored body, you must stand in the middle of that pool." She pointed at the crystal blue water. "Then I will do the rest."  
  
         Sephiroth nodded and walked out to the pool, surprised to find that he didn't sink into the water, but could stand on top of it. He stood in the middle, gazing at Clementia as she started to chant in a strange language while twirling her staff. A white aura surrounded her as she continued the chant and movements, causing the water to swirl around Sephiroth. He heard a faint buzzing in his ears and as the deity reached the peak of her spell, the sound started to crescendo to a chorus of singing voices.  
  
"Good luck, Sephiroth," said Spirita, smiling, "You'll be hearing from me fairly soon."  
  
"Remember what I said about that girl," said Sanctus, chuckling, "She's becoming quite the trickster!" The white dragon smiled when he saw Sephiroth nod and whispered, "Good luck, child."  
  
         The water started to rise up in great arcs and tendrils around Sephiroth, who didn't flinch at all. He felt himself sinking a bit and a cold sensation started to crawl up his body, but he continued to watch Clementia's spell. The deity suddenly stopped and pointed her staff directly at him, causing the water to wrap around him like cords and pull him downwards into the pool. Sephiroth felt himself falling through the cold water and then everything became black.  
  
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #  
  
#Sanctus is latin for holy, sacred, or saint.   
  
##Medius is latin for middle, the middle of, central, midst.  
  
###Spirita is the feminine form of Spiritus which is latin for breath, breathing / spirit / life  
  
#### Renovatio is latin for renewal, renovation, and restoration.  
  
As you can see, I like the latin language. Yep, this is the sort of stuff that are part of my belief system. Anyway, as you can see, both Sephiroth and Aeris are coming back. Yes, I also know that bringing Aeris back can cause problems between the relationship of Tifa and Cloud, but I have plans. Me being the hopeless romantic, I won't leave anyone unpaired XD well some people will stay unpaired.   
  
Readers I ask for your suggestions: Who do you think Aeris should be matched with? An original character? Or someone from the game?   
  
You've probably already figured out who Neona has become, but you're probably wondering how Sanctus and Spirita became her teachers and godparents. It'll be explained.  
  
Yes, Jenova is completely gone from Sephiroth's mind. She's dead, right? So his real feelings about events are coming out.   
  
SNEAK PEEK!:  
  
Rhiannon figures out a way to get to the northern continent, but runs into some trouble.  
  
The discovery of one of her abilities leads to an attempt at something that goes very wrong.   
  
Rhiannon learns the meaning of 'winter clothing' and some more of her naiveté is shown.  
  


  



	6. Winter Wonderland Dilemma

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7, but I do own Rhiannon and Daigus.   
  
A/N: It's so weird changing my symbols. x.x I have to get used to it. I've been playing a lot of Final Fantasy 7, so I have a lot of inspiration for this story. Well, time to return to Rhiannon's adventure. Sorry, short author's note.  
  
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # #  
  
While Sephiroth was being returned to his body, the girl that they had talked about had managed to sneak on to a boat heading for the northern continent. Rhiannon sat in a small area in the middle of the stacked up crates, which hid her from view, and sighed wondering when the boat would get to its destination. She wasn't quite sure how she had managed to elude the other people, but she was glad to have a rest._ I don't know why I'm so tired,_ thought Rhiannon, stretching a bit,_ I guess I haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately._  
  
The boat cruised along the blue sea with no problems and Rhiannon soon fell asleep because she had nothing else to do. She was finally getting some sleep only to be awakened many times by the clanking of boots against the metal of the stairs or the wooden floors. Scowling, the girl amused herself by listening in on the conversations of the crew whenever they were near the crates. Most of them complained about the higher officers, their pay, or members of the opposite gender. _Is this what everyone talks about?_ thought the girl, confused.   
  
Feeling quite stiff, Rhiannon stood up and started doing different stretches for her muscles. A sudden jolt, caused her to fall off balance, landing with a loud thud on the floor. She cursed silently as she retreated into the shadows incase anyone heard her fall. The girl realized that the boat wasn't moving and there were calls to start unloading things. _Finally,_ she thought, grabbing her pack, _About time we got here. Guess I should start to get out of here before they find me._  
  
Rhiannon was about to sneak out of the boat by hiding behind crates when an alarm went off and lights flashed. Caught by surprise of these strange things, Rhiannon covered her ears to block out the sound and the lights blinded her eyes. She scrambled away from where she was, confused by the sounds and lights, but found a spot to recover. _What the hell was that thing?_ she thought, rubbing her head, _How did it make so much noise and light? Whatever it was, thank goodness it stopped._ She sighed and tried to relax her nerves.  
  
"Captain!" yelled one of the men dressed in a blue uniform that she had seen earlier, stalking around the boat, "I saw something!"  
  
"Who would stowaway on a boat full of sailors and Soldiers?" asked a man dressed in a captain's outfit, "Especially with the president on board. Well, spread out and search every nook and cranny. Maybe someone did get on here for a free ride."  
  
Rhiannon cursed under her breath as she saw people in blue uniforms walk to the lower area where she was and start searching. She moved in the shadows, trying to evade their sight, but when she heard a gun fire and a bullet hit the wall next to her arm, she froze. Her eyes widened in fear when she saw that all of the soldiers were pointing their guns directly at her. A man in a dark red uniform stepped forward with his gun out and his eyes narrowed at her. _He must be the leader of this group of people_, thought Rhiannon, noticing the difference in uniforms.  
  
"Come out of the shadows, stowaway," snarled the man in the dark red uniform, "We can see you."  
  
The girl was too frightened by the sight of the guns to even move, but she felt her whole body begin to shake as the soldiers all took a step toward her. She could hear her own heartbeat getting faster and louder as they came closer to where she was. Her eyes suddenly went wide as a strange feeling surged through her veins and the pupils of her eyes contracted to slits, the glow in them becoming more intense. Not thinking about the consequences, Rhiannon rushed forward, drawing out her daggers and proceeded to cut down the soldiers. She left a trail of either dead or injured soldiers and escaped via a handy hole she cut in the side of the boat.   
  
_Thank god the boat was wooden,_ she thought, leaning against the side of the boat. The strange surge of energy and emotions subsided, leaving Rhiannon with a drained feeling. She glanced down at the daggers and gasped when she saw them covered in blood. _But... wait! When... When did I..._ She peeked inside and saw the bodies of the dead or injured. _Oh my god... I... I did that... But... How?!_ Her musings were interrupted by a shout followed by the sound of guns being fired.  
  
"Yah!" exclaimed the silver-haired girl, running away as the bullets hit the wood beside her. She nearly stumbled to the ground when one deeply grazed her leg and another nicked her arm.   
  
"There's the stowaway!" yelled one of the soldiers, toppling out of the hole Rhiannon had cut in the side, "Shit! Captain! There's a giant hole in the side of this boat!"  
  
"That stowaway must've done it," said the Captain, glaring after Rhiannon's retreating figure, "Get that girl alive, but watch out, I believe She's armed and dangerous. You saw how she cut down all those soldiers."  
  
"Yes, sir!" said the soldiers, running off after Rhiannon, but she had already slid behind a pile of crates and was out of sight.  
  
"How am I going to get out of this," muttered Rhiannon, watching the soldiers spread out and search the area, "They'd spot me easily, but if I could become something else. That might work long enough to get me out of here, but how..." She watched a bird fly away from the area. "If only I could turn into a bird... or something."  
  
Rhiannon felt a strange spark of energy go through her when she said that, but it subsided quickly. She glanced down at her hands, which now held an illusion of a small bird and after a little more experimentation, she realized what she could do. Getting an idea, the girl darted out from behind the crates and into the forest, hearing shouts and running feet follow far behind. _Interesting,_ she thought, _I'm out running them easily... That's strange, seeing how I'm human like them, but I haven't been trained like they have..._  
  
The silver-haired girl stopped in a clearing and visualized a small one room cabin. The concentration on the illusion caused a warmth and surge of energy to spread to her fingertips. The cabin she visualized was woven into the area in front of her and she tapped on the door, it was solid wood. Rhiannon quickly opened the door to see a double bed in one corner, a stove, a table, and other things. She smiled and shut the door behind her as she heard the soldiers getting closer, making sure they saw her go in the cabin.  
  
Using more of the illusion magic, Rhiannon visualized herself in a different appearance, with tanned skin, long black hair, and brown eyes. A silver material seemed to wrap around her and she saw her nude form in the mirror, exactly as she had visualized. All her markings had vanished and her height had changed. She grinned in a mischievous manner as the idea of the trick was molded even more in her mind. _I think I'm going to like using this ability_, she thought, examining her hands with interest.  
  
"This is so perfect," she muttered, grabbing a pile of clothes she had made and she pretended that she was dressing.  
  
The door flew off its hinges as a soldier kicked it down, they came in and pointed their guns at Rhiannon, who they couldn't recognize. The girl screamed, putting on a fake, but convincing accent that masked her real voice. The soldiers froze when they saw a different woman standing there covering herself with a dress she was about to put on. Rhiannon quickly visualized a tall, well-built man with slightly tanned skin, long dark hair, and bright blue eyes. A man of that description suddenly stepped out from behind the house and walked over to the soldiers. Luckily, he was dressed rather than being nude, and his garb made him even more intimidating.   
  
"What are you men doing to my wife?" growled the man, standing about a head taller than most of the men, "We've lived here for years with no problems from soldiers and suddenly they are barging into my cabin and trying to attack my wife."  
  
"S... Sorry, s... sir!" stuttered the soldier in front, "We though we saw a girl..."  
  
"My wife is the only woman who would be at this cabin," said the man, glowering at the soldiers.  
  
"John," said Rhiannon, making her voice sound terrified, "I think they had other intentions! They were eyeing me in the most frightening way."  
  
"Get out of my cabin and go back to where you came from!" roared John at the soldiers, causing them to take off in the direction of the boat.  
  
As soon as the soldiers were out of sight and far away from the area, all of Rhiannon's illusions dissolved away into nothing. The girl dropped the dress, which dissolved too and stretched, smiling to herself with satisfaction as the outer image shattered from her person to leave her original appearance. She decided to test out her idea of changing into an animal. _What form shall I try?_ she thought, casting her mind around for an idea. A howl in the distance helped her choose. _I'll try turning into a wolf._ She closed her eyes and focused on the image of a wolf, expanding the image into her turning into a wolf.   
  
Rather than the energy going to her hands, Rhiannon felt a tingling, yet warm sensation surround her entire body. The girl realized that this was a transformation and not just an illusion, which she found interesting. Her form started to shift into that of a silver wolf, but something happened that she didn't expect. Her arms suddenly felt like they were on fire as a strange jolt of energy shot through her body, causing her concentration to break. Barely conscious from the white hot pain coursing through her body, the girl could feel herself falling to the ground and blacked out as her body hit the cold, hard earth.  
  
Meanwhile, in a cave several miles away, Sephiroth awoke when he sensed the surge of energy caused by Rhiannon's attempt. The man knew he was back because he felt the cold stone beneath him and upon opening his eyes, saw a rocky ceiling above him. The sound of water trickling through a crack somewhere in the cave reached his ears, mingling with other various sounds. He sat up to survey the area around him, remembering all the events that had transpired within the region and feeling regret creeping into his heart again. The thought of his missing sword surfaced in his thoughts, but as he looked around, he sighed with relief when he saw it standing in a corner nearby. Next to it sat a pack with a rolled up piece of paper tied to it with a white ribbon.  
  
What was so unusual about the paper was that it was parchment, which no one used anymore. He untied the note and unrolled it to read the words written in calligraphy:  
  
_Dear Sephiroth,  
  
Hope you got there safe and that you remember that you must not leave the area. The girl is heading to the ancient city, but something's happened to her and she looks more different than ever. Luckily, she blends in since many people started experimenting with genetics and got themselves strange body parts. The pack is specially designed to carry many things, but not show off the bulk or let gravity take it down. The material looks like leather, but it has had Phoenix feathers spun into it. Since Phoenixes can carry immensely heavy loads, this won't weigh you down. There's food, extra clothing, and all the supplies you need until the girl gets to the crater. I wish you much luck with the mission.  
  
Sincerely,  
Spirita. Gold Dragon of the Gates.  
Assistant to Clementia, the goddess of mercy and clemency.  
  
_ Sephiroth stared at the letter and put it away, but pulled out the clothing to inspect it. Nothing to his likeness was in there because it was basically pants and tunics like he had worn while in the other realm, but he realized that he was wearing his old uniform. It had been cleaned and restored to its original state. He discovered another set of his old clothes, but he had a feeling that he wouldn't be wearing his old uniform that much once he was out in the open. Obviously, Spirita had thought the same thing, but to Sephiroth, she had bad taste in clothes.   
  
Sephiroth stood up to stretch out the kinks in his muscles and he pulled the masamune out of its sheath, examining it closely and found that any damage to the blade had been repaired. Feeling that he may be rusty with his techniques, the silver-haired man took off his coat and leather straps to start practicing them again. _I wonder how long I'll have to wait,_ he thought, thrusting his sword at an invisible opponent,_ Once I'm done here, I'll scout around the area and see how far I'm allowed to go. _  
  
# # # # # # # # # # # # #  
  
While Sephiroth was getting accustomed to his surroundings, a few hours passed and Rhiannon woke up to the birds singing above her. When she opened her eyes to see the sun sinking beyond the horizon and felt a strange chill pass through her body. Alarmed by the fact that she was still in the clearing, the girl stood up quickly, feeling like she had been hit by a truck, but something didn't feel right. She placed her hands on her head, running her fingers through her hair. They bumped into two furry things, which confused her.  
  
Rhiannon dropped her hands and conjured up the image of a mirror to see what was in her hair. With a shriek that sent birds into the air, she stared open mouthed at the mirror, which showed that two silver wolf ears were sitting atop her head. The girl turned slightly to look at the silver wolf tail that was now attached to her backside. She didn't act shocked by the fact that she was completely nude, but the cold air made her seek out her clothes. The garments were lying on the ground not too far away and she quickly pulled them on, but she had to rip a hole in her pants to let her tail out.   
  
"What the hell happened to me?!" she exclaimed, staring at herself in the mirror. She thought back to the attempted transformation and remembered that something broke her concentration. "I guess my broken concentration messed up the spell." With a sigh she sought out her cloak, which provided little extra warmth, but it was enough.   
  
Shivering, Rhiannon pulled up the hood and clutched the cloth tightly around her. After getting rid of the mirror, the girl grabbed her pack and headed towards the nearest village. She entered the village to see that a few of the buildings were built out of the bones of a massive creature, but what really caught her eye were the soldiers stationed around one particular house. She walked to the inn and rented a room for the night. The innkeeper took a look at her clothes and shook his head.  
  
"You're going to need winter clothing if you're going to travel around this area," he commented, "There's a store across the way that sells them."  
  
"Thank you for the information," said Rhiannon, smiling at him, "Um... What would winter clothing be?"  
  
The man gave her a strange look. "Pants, long sleeved shirts, coats, and boots. There are other items, but that's the basic outfit. That's quite a strange question, miss."  
  
"Um... Yeah," muttered Rhiannon, moving to the stairs, "Thanks again." She quickly retreated up the stairway to her room and once the door was closed, she pulled off her cloak. "I guess winter is what the cold regions are called."   
  
The girl deposited her belongings in a chair and took out a pouch of money that Daigus had given her. She counted the money and realized that it was much more than she thought it was. Smiling, Rhiannon put the key to her room in the pouch and tied the pouch to the sash around her waist. She departed the room after wrapping her cloak tightly around herself and left the inn, wandering in the direction of the clothing shop, which she only found because there was a sign out front. She entered the shop and gazed around at all the different clothes in wonder.   
  
"Ah, hello, young traveler," said a brown-haired woman at the cash register, "Do you need any help?"  
  
"Um... I need winter clothing," replied Rhiannon, feeling very unsure about what to do.  
  
"Well, take off your cloak and I'll see what I can do," stated the woman.  
  
Rhiannon did so and hung it on a peg as the woman walked around her, inspecting every bit of her appearance with a pair of soft, brown eyes. The girl spoke up. "Um... I don't suppose you have clothes made for someone like me... Do you?"  
  
"Oh, hun, we have all sorts of clothing," replied the woman, looking at Rhiannon's newly acquired tail, "You're lucky. We just got our shipment of clothing made for people with tails. Come with me." She took hold of Rhiannon's shoulder, but the girl yelped when this happened. "Oh, you poor thing." The woman examined the gash on her shoulder. "You must've gotten in a fight with a monster." The woman brought the girl to the back of the shop and closed a curtain. "I need you to remove your shirt and pants, so I can treat your injuries."  
  
Rhiannon hesitated, but after a few moments, did so and put on a tank top and some shorts that the woman handed her.   
  
"Please, take a seat on the chair," stated the woman, gesturing to the moth-eaten armchair in the corner.  
  
The girl sat down as the woman bustled around, looking for something. "Um... I hope I'm not bothering you..."  
  
"Oh, dear, you're not," sighed the woman, glancing at her, "I double as a nurse all the time." She gave Rhiannon a warm smile. "You seem to be new here. I know the feeling." She found the first aid kit and walked over to the girl, kneeling down to examine her wounds. "I moved here from Midgar a couple of years ago when it was destroyed. I had been away in a safe place when it happened, but when I returned, most of my belongings had been destroyed."  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that," said Rhiannon, wincing as the woman cleaned her arm injury with a strange liquid.  
  
"I like this area more than Midgar," remarked the woman, wrapping a bandage around the injury, "I feel less lonely when I'm here." She started working on Rhiannon's leg injury. "You are one lucky girl. Whatever hit you here didn't cut deep enough to require stitches, but it may take a while to heal." She cleaned the wound and bandaged it. "Oh, my! We weren't properly introduced, were we?" She chuckled. "My name is Elmyra Gainsborough." She held out her hand. "What's your name?"  
  
"I'm Rhiannon," replied the girl, smiling faintly, but she stared at the woman's hand in confusion, but the woman took the initiative and took hold of the girl's hand, shaking it slightly.   
  
"No last name?" inquired Elmyra, standing up to put away the box.  
  
"None that I know of," answered Rhiannon quietly, looking at the floor.   
  
"Well, that's becoming quite common for some reason," shrugged Elmyra, turning around, "I think I'll go ahead and close the shop to help you out."   
  
"Oh... You don't have to do that," said Rhiannon, glancing at her, "I don't want to cause any trouble."  
  
"My dear, it's almost closing time anyway, it's ok," assured Elmyra, smiling gently at her, "Follow me." She disappeared through the curtains and Rhiannon stood up to peek through. Elmyra flipped over a sign, locked the door, and pulled down some curtains to cover the windows. "Don't worry, no one can seen in here now."  
  
The girl walked out and gazed around at the clothing, unsure as to where she should start. "Um... What should I look at first... I've... I've never bought my own clothes before..."   
  
"That's ok," commented Elmyra, chuckling, "It's been a long time since I've helped someone after closing time."  
  
During the hours that Elmyra helped her try on item after item, Rhiannon felt herself growing fonder of the kind woman. The only thing she found strange is that every time she looked at her helper, a very faint spark of familiarity ran through her mind. She managed to find a few outfits that she felt comfortable in and quickly learned a non-painful way to get her tail through the specially made hole in each pair of pants. When she had finished her searching, Rhiannon purchased the clothes she liked and started to leave, wearing one of the outfits she had bought.  
  
"Hang on a minute," said Elmyra, picking up some scissors, "Let me cut off the tags from that outfit you're wearing." She snipped off the tags and put the tool away.  
  
"Thank you," said Rhiannon, sighing, "Thanks for everything."  
  
"It was no trouble, dear," remarked Elmyra, smiling at her, "You should get going. It's late and I'm sure you're exhausted from your travels." She paused for a moment. "How old are you, dear?"  
  
"Twenty-three," answered Rhiannon, remembering the age that Daigus told her to use.  
  
"A year younger than my daughter would've been," sighed Elmyra, "You remind me of her when she was a child."   
  
"_Would've_ been?" said the girl, watching the woman with curiosity, "What do you mean?"   
  
"I'm afraid she was killed two years ago," answered Elmyra, a sorrowful expression on her face.   
  
"Ah," whispered Rhiannon, looking down, "I'm... I'm so sorry."  
  
"Oh, don't apologize," said Elmyra, smiling kindly at her, "How long are you going to be in town?"  
  
"I'm not sure," replied Rhiannon, scratching her head, "It depends on how long my money holds up."  
  
"Well, why don't you come stay with me?" asked Elmyra, "I'd enjoy having the company and I enjoyed our conversation while I helped you with clothing."  
  
"Oh... I... I couldn't possibly impose on you, Mrs. Gainsborough," stammered the silver-haired girl in reply, casting a shy gaze at the floor.  
  
The woman laughed. "Nonsense, dear, I insist. Now, go gather your things and head on over here. I have an extra room in the back."  
  
Rhiannon smiled at her and did a quick, respectful bow, "Thank you so much, Mrs. Gainsborough. I'll help you out in the shop and run errands for you to pay you back." Before Elmyra could say another word, the wolfish girl scurried out of the shop and moved back to the inn.  
  
"Sweet, child," murmured Elmyra, sighing a little, "Such spirit and kindness... So like my dear Aeris."  
  
Rhiannon walked towards the inn, reflecting on everything Elmyra had told her when she ran into someone and fell backwards on to the cold earth. With a pang of fear, she looked up to see a soldier standing there, his eyes narrowed at her and a paper in his hand. The girl grabbed her things and got to her feet quickly before the man could get a hold of her arm. She moved out of the way as he lunged at her and sprinted to the inn only slowing down at the door to walk inside. Once she was at her room, Rhiannon quickly shoved all her things into her pack and got ready to leave. She turned around and went for the door when it burst open, allowing a group of soldiers to barge in.  
  
"Freeze!" yelled a commander, pointing his gun at her, "Stay right where you are." He looked at a soldier next to him. "_This_ is the stowaway?"  
  
"Yes, sir," replied the soldier, glaring at Rhiannon, "That's her."  
  
Rhiannon growled at him as she took a step forward, but the clicks of guns made her freeze in place. Once again, she felt the same surge of emotions and energy rush through her veins, causing her pupils to contract to slits as the glow got brighter. In a flash, she had drawn her daggers and proceeded in taking out all of the soldiers; All of whom were so surprised by the girl's sudden aggression that they didn't react in time. She managed to restrain herself from killing this time, but managed to knock all of them out. Once the last one fell, the girl leapt over the bodies and landed in the hallway, a bit of a wolfish grin on her face. Her grin was wiped off her face when she felt something get pressed to her back and a painful sensation engulfed her body.   
  
The silver-haired girl screamed from the pain and collapsed once it had stopped, feeling her consciousness slip. The last thing she saw was a man standing over her, his crimson red hair falling over his shoulder in a messy ponytail and his deep blue eyes gazing down at her. Rhiannon noticed a scar on each of his cheeks near his eye and saw a pair of sunglasses set atop his head. Resting on his other shoulder, the tip sparking, was an odd, metal stick with a rubber handle. Her eyes slowly moved down, taking in the image of a blue suit with a white shirt. She muttered something and tried to get up, but a foot connected with her stomach, sending her into the nearest wall.   
  
"Idiot!" yelled the redhead, striking the commander across the head with the rubber end of the stick, "The president wants her delivered unharmed!"   
  
"You just zapped her with your nightstick!" exclaimed the commander, glaring at the man.  
  
"It was to stun her," snorted the redhead, rolling his eyes and getting out a phone, "Hey, Rude, Elena. Found the girl." There was some muffled talking on the other end. "Yeah, she's out. I'll bring her back now."  
  
Rhiannon was clutching her stomach as pain coursed through her body, but managed to look at the man through half opened eyes and voice a question. "Who... Who are you?"   
  
The man gave her a strange look and shrugged. "You must be new or something if you can't recognize me." He gave her a sly smirk and rested his nightstick on his shoulder again. "I'm Reno of the Turks and you're my ticket to a nice pay off."  
  
"I'm overjoyed for you," spat Rhiannon in a sarcastic tone, fixing him with a bleary, yet angry glare, "What do the uniformed monkeys want?"  
  
"Uniformed monkeys?!" exclaimed the commander in outrage, "We are members of SOLDIER and I'm a high ranking officer!" Before Reno could stop him, the commander stomped over and grabbed the girl by her shirt.  
  
"Hehehe... I made the uniformed monkey mad," chuckled Rhiannon, smiling a bit, but she was obviously not thinking clearly.  
  
"Shut up!" snarled the commander, slamming Rhiannon up against the wall hard that it seemed to knock her out, "Stupid mutant bitch."  
  
"The president's going to have you demoted for that," stated Reno coldly, glaring at the commander.  
  
"Hehe..." muttered Rhiannon loudly, as she grinned again, "Uniformed... Monkey."   
  
With a yell of rage, the commander tossed the girl into the opposite wall and the impact against it succeeded in finally knocking Rhiannon out completely.  
  
Reno chuckled at the commander's rage. "I think she has a point to her insult." He smirked at the man before walking over to pick up Rhiannon. He hoisted the girl over his shoulder and disappeared down the stairs laughing at the commander.  
  
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #  
  
Wow, this is turning out different from what I had before o.o I wasn't going to bring in the Turks this early. I figured that once Shin-Ra was revived, the Turks would go back to get a good job or something.   
  
Yep, that's the same Elmyra who adopted Aeris I decided to make the woman in the clothing shop have a more significant role in this chapter.   
  
An amusing illusion Rhiannon did, no? And yes, I do have a thing about turning characters into part animal. XD   
  
Hope you enjoyed this chapter and sorry about the cliffhanger.  
  
SNEAK PEEK!:  
  
- Rhiannon meets the new president of Shin-Ra along with some of their other employees.   
  
- Two panicked, draconic deities drop in on Sephiroth to inform him a slight problem with the agenda.  
  
- What happens when soldiers meet their insane general who's supposed to be dead? Hehe.   
  


  



	7. What A Crazy Day

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7, but I do own Daigus, Rhiannon, Sanctus, Spirita, and any other random original characters that appear in this story.   
  
A/N: Like I said to Kia-chan. Writer's block will never triumph! Haha! There won't be any updates for at least one or two weeks. I'm going on vacation from July 20th to July 27th, then I have work and musical stuff. I'll be at band camp from August 1st to August 7th or 8th, too. --() Evil never sleeps... () If I'm able to write at all during vacation, I might be able to update in-between.   
  
In our last chapter, Rhiannon had several problems and ended up being abducted by the Turk, Reno, and some soldiers. Sephiroth arrived on Earth. Let's find out what else happens!  
  
# # # # # # # # # # # # #  
  
         Rhiannon could hear the sound of muttering voices as her consciousness came back and she rolled over, but fell off of whatever she was laying on. Her whole body was aching and the memories of what had happened the night before came rushing back. She quickly opened her eyes and was surprised to find that she didn't need to let them adjust to the light because it was so dim. The girl glanced around to see that she was in a small room with a cot, which she had fallen off of, against the wall, a desk on the other side of the room, and two doors. There was some light shining through a small part in the curtains covering it.  
  
         Curious, Rhiannon stood up, ignoring the pain in her leg, and tried the knob of one door. It opened to a bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower. After shutting it, she wandered over to the other door and tried the handle, but it was locked. With a growl, the girl pulled hard on the door, which wouldn't budge. Irritated by the object's resistance, Rhiannon punched the door and tried to kick it, yet the actions were as helpful as poking cement with a toothpick. _What's going on..._ she thought in panic, _Where am I?! Why won't this door open?! _There was a grating noise as the top panel of the door slid away and a pair of blue eyes gazed in at the girl, who had leapt back, staring in astonishment at the door.  
  
"Well, you're finally awake," said the familiar voice of Reno, "You really did a number on those soldiers last night. I doubt any of them will be in fighting shape any time soon."  
  
"Where am I?" asked Rhiannon, fixing a steady gaze on the redhead, "Why have you brought me here?"   
  
"The president wanted to meet the stowaway who managed to beat one of our best squads on the boat," answered Reno, chuckling, "You're at his little villa."  
  
"President?" said Rhiannon, raising an eyebrow, "President of what?"   
  
Reno gave her a strange look. "Of the Shin-Ra corporation."   
  
"The what?" inquired the girl, her expression becoming one of confusion.   
  
"You've never heard of Shin-Ra?" said the redhead, frowning at her, "How is it possible for anyone not to have heard of Shin-Ra. Unless they were living under a rock or something."  
  
"Well... I came from a cave..." muttered Rhiannon, trying to figure out how someone would live under a rock without getting squashed, "Is that what you mean by living under a rock?"  
  
The girl couldn't see it, but the Turk's jaw had dropped at this last comment, but the shocked look in his eyes gave it away. "That was a figure of speech... You really aren't from around here, are you?"  
  
"I've only been awake for about a week or so..." muttered Rhiannon, sitting down on the bed and wincing as she felt the aches in her body.   
  
Reno narrowed his eyes a bit, "Awake? What do you mean by awake?"   
  
         Rhiannon opened her mouth to reply, but remembered that Daigus didn't want her to mention anything about him or her mission and closed it quickly. She leaned back against the wall and looked at the floor, trying desperately to figure out how to answer the question without giving the truth away. Luckily, she was saved the trouble of answering when someone approached Reno and the two engaged in a conversation. The blue eyes flicked to the girl before the redhead nodded and walked out of sight. Two soldiers opened the door, walking over to the girl and grabbed her by the arms. They tied her wrists together behind her back and made her stand up before leading her down the hallway.   
  
One of the soldiers knocked on a door and an irritated voice answered. "What is it?"   
  
"Sir, we have the stowaway you wanted to see," replied the soldier.  
  
"Ah, yes," said the voice, sounding more interested, "Bring him in."   
  
The soldiers opened the door and pulled Rhiannon inside.  
  
"Actually, sir," stated the second soldier, "The stowaway is female."  
  
         Rhiannon looked around for the person they were talking to and noticed a man with dirty blond hair that fell to the middle of his shoulder-blades, sitting on a chair next to the fire. His deep blue eyes were gazing at her with a faintly astonished look in them, but what surprised the girl was how casually the man was dressed. He wore khaki pants with a dark blue turtleneck shirt and black shoes, whereas Rhiannon was expecting to see another suit. When the man stood up and walked over to the girl, she noticed he was nearly a whole head taller than her. His gaze made her feel anxious and uneasy, but there was also an analytical expression in his eyes. A hand took hold of her chin, turning her head to the right and then to the left as if to study her further.   
  
"Interesting," he murmured, letting go of her chin, "Come, girl, sit down."   
  
The soldiers let go of Rhiannon, who nervously moved to the couch and sat down. "Who... Who are you?"   
  
"I'm Caine Zalmon," replied the man, sitting down in the chair opposite of her, "The new president of Shin-Ra Company. Might I ask what your name is?"   
  
"My name is Rhiannon," said the silver-haired girl, looking at the floor as she answered.  
  
"And how old are you?" asked Caine, his gaze not leaving her face, "You look a bit young to be able to kill some of my best men."   
  
"Twenty-three," replied Rhiannon, taking this time to look around at the room, "What about you?"   
  
"Twenty-five," answered the man, raising an eyebrow, "You're awfully young to be a stowaway who kills a squad of my best men."  
  
"Aren't _you_ awfully young to be running a large company?" asked Rhiannon, shifting her gaze to Caine.  
  
"Witty little thing, aren't you," laughed Caine, an amused glint in his eyes, "I haven't met a genetically altered girl who had any brains left."   
  
"Um... But I wasn't genetically altered..." stated Rhiannon, looking down at the floor, trying to understand what he meant.  
  
"I don't know any other way you could have those ears and that tail," chuckled Caine, turning his back on her to return to his seat.  
  
"I didn't even want to look like this," said the girl quietly, biting her lip, "It was kind of a magic accident..."   
  
Caine stopped and moved around to look at her again. "What do you mean by 'magic accident'?"   
  
"I was trying to do some transformation magic and something backfired," replied Rhiannon, one of her ears flicking back a bit as the fire crackled.   
  
"Transformation?" repeated Caine, his brow furrowed in thought, "You know that sort lost magic?"  
  
"Why do you call it 'lost magic'?" inquired Rhiannon, gazing up at him, "Aren't there a lot of people who can do magic?"  
  
"Only with materia," answered Caine, sitting down and giving the girl an intense stare, "Can you do it without those gems?"   
  
"I'm sorry, but I don't even know what materia is," commented Rhiannon in reply.  
  
"So, you can do magic without relying on an outside power?" inquired Caine, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Well... I can't really do much magic," replied the girl, shrugging a bit, "I've only experimented a little bit and so far the only stuff that doesn't backfire are illusions."  
  
"Illusions you say?" said the man, his tone sounding more interested, "May I see one?"   
  
"Um... I would, but I'm a bit tied up right now," answered Rhiannon, sounding totally sincere, but her response made Caine laugh, "What did I say?"   
  
"Never mind," chuckled Caine, motioning to one of the soldiers, "Untie her hands so she can do her illusion trick."   
  
The soldier did so and Rhiannon stretched her arms a bit, rubbing her wrists. "What kind of illusion do you want to see?"  
  
"Anything," replied Caine, "Pick anything you want."  
  
"Um... Ok," muttered Rhiannon, closing her eyes and catching Caine's image in her mind.   
  
         The girl focused on the picture, visualizing every detail from the length of his hair to the folds in his clothing. She spread her fingers out in front of her and felt a warm energy flare to life around her hands. The image began materialize in front of her and it looked as though something were weaving it out of the air. Caine and the two soldiers stared in amazement as a identical copy of the president glanced around the room with a nonchalant look on his face. Rhiannon dropped her hands and opened her eyes to see her handiwork. Caine stood up and walked around his duplicate, prodding it in the shoulder, only to find that the image was solid.  
  
"Fascinating," he murmured, still studying the copy, "It's so real, but it seems kind of lifeless."  
  
"Illusions only have emotions if I add that particular element," stated Rhiannon, slumping against the back of the couch, exhausted, "I can only create images, not souls."   
  
"You sound like an expert for someone who's just started experimenting," remarked Caine, sitting back down as the copy disappeared, "Perhaps we could use someone with your talent in our industry."  
  
Rhiannon looked up at him and blinked. "What do you mean? I don't see how illusions can help business."  
  
"You obviously have a great gift," replied Caine, a sly look in his eyes, "If we could help you work past those backfires you mentioned..." He paused for a second to smile. "Then perhaps you'd make a good soldier."  
  
"But... I don't want to be involved in the military," said the girl, shaking her head, "Thank you for the offer, but I'm already working for someone."  
  
Caine's smile immediately left his face. "I see." He looked at the two soldiers. "Could you take Miss Rhiannon back to her room." His eyes went back to the girl. "We can talk about it later. I have some business to attend to."  
  
         Before Rhiannon could say another word, the two soldiers pulled her up from the couch, tied her wrists together, and led her out of the room. Once she was gone, a blond-haired woman wearing a low cut dress walked over to Caine from a corner. She sat down and made an attempt at snuggling close to him, but the man pushed her away before standing up. The woman gave him a sour look, her dark red eyes flashed with anger and annoyance.  
  
"I don't think you're going to get much use out of her," said the woman, crossing her arms, "Why don't we just get down to our own business."   
  
"Shut up, Scarlet," snapped Caine, glaring at her, "You may've had relations with my cousin, Rufus, but keep your roaming hands away from me. I have over interests."  
  
"Oh, yes," snorted Scarlet, looking haughty, "Your newly acquired miracle girl. She's too young for you."  
  
"She is quite attractive, but I have a different use for her," smirked Caine, pouring some wine in a glass, "Also, we're only two years apart. You, however, are at least ten years older than me."  
  
"I'm not _that_ old!" snarled Scarlet, glaring at him, "I was younger than Rufus!"  
  
"No you weren't," chuckled Caine, sitting down with his wine, "You lied about your age on your application. Is Heidegger still with the project?"   
  
"Yes, sir," replied Scarlet, sounding sulky, "He's ordering the soldiers around like he used to."   
  
"I'm fine with that," said Caine, sipping his wine, "Just as long as he doesn't alter any of the orders _I_ gave _him_." He looked at Scarlet. "The girl declined the offer to join us, so I'd like you to _persuade_ her to do so. I believe that's one of your strong points."  
  
Scarlet smiled slyly at him. "I'd be delighted to talk to her." She stood up and left the room.  
  
Caine's lips curled into a smirk as he gazed at the door. "It's only a matter of time."   
  
# # # # # # # # # # #   
  
         While Rhiannon became more acquainted with her room, Sephiroth had settled himself in the cave and was cleaning his sword. He froze as the rock around him began to tremble and shake. There were two loud crashes outside, causing the ground to quake violently, but the tremors passed quickly as familiar voices reached the man's ears. He stood up with his sword just as two people appeared at the cave entrance, looking agitated and aggrieved. Sephiroth stared in amazement as the human forms of Sanctus and Spirita strolled inside, both looking directly at him. For a second, the man thought he had done something wrong, but when Sanctus spoke, it was not in an angry voice, but a slightly panicked tone.  
  
"Sorry to drop in on you, Sephiroth," he said, brushing off some of his clothing, "But we have an unexpected problem."  
  
"What happened?" asked Sephiroth, sitting back down.  
  
"It seems the girl has run into the president of Shin-Ra," replied Spirita, sighing, "She's caught his interest, too."  
  
"Where is she?" inquired Sephiroth, raising an eyebrow, "It doesn't sound that bad."  
  
"Actually," answered Sanctus, taking a seat on a nearby rock, "It is bad. She snuck on to a boat to Bone Village and ended up fighting a squad of soldiers." He paused for a moment, glancing at Spirita. "I'm not quite sure what happened after that, but she was ambushed by a Turk and some soldiers."  
  
"In short, she's been imprisoned at the president's villa," stated Spirita, shaking her head, "And she won't be able to escape without someone's help." She gazed at the silver-haired man. "To be more precise; She needs _your_ help."  
  
"Why me?" asked Sephiroth, "Isn't Aeris closer?"  
  
"I think you breaking in there will spook the soldiers more than Aeris," chuckled Sanctus, a sly glint in his eyes, "Most of the soldiers that are in Shin-Ra know who you are."  
  
"I see what you're getting at," commented Sephiroth, smiling a little, "So, she's in Bone Village. How exactly do I get there from here?"   
  
"We'll take you," replied Spirita, her voice sounding less distraught, "But we'll have to wait until dark. It probably wouldn't be wise to have you take action in broad daylight."  
  
"And make sure to wear your old uniform," remarked Sanctus, looking excited about the attack, "We want to scare those soldiers out of their wits." The deity's expression was like a mischievous child getting ready to pull a prank on his rival.  
  
"Dear, I've always wanted to ask you this," said Spirita, gazing at her husband with exasperation, "Why is it that the plans you're always the most passionate about involve sneaking around or surprise attacks? You're always the first person to suggest that type of attack."  
  
"I'm a trickster at heart," declared Sanctus, putting a hand over his heart, "When I was young all those many years ago, I lived for pulling pranks on just about everyone."  
  
"Oh, yes, that's how we met," sighed Spirita, putting a hand to her head, "You switched my shampoo with hair dye and I had neon green hair for over a week." She grinned at him. "Then I got you back by turning your hair bright pink for the same amount of time."  
  
"That's one of the reasons why I fell in love with you," said Sanctus, laughing a bit, "You managed to pull the same prank on me."  
  
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # #  
  
         The three continued to talk the hours away, whereas Rhiannon was not having as much fun as they were. Her wrists were bound above her head and Scarlet was interrogating her, slapping the girl whenever she refused to speak or gave an answer the woman didn't like. The two injuries that the girl received earlier from bullets had reopened and were bleeding through the bandages. She stayed silent as the woman slapped her once more, using her nails to leave several cuts across the girl's cheek. Blood was already running down the side of her head from a gash on her left temple, which she acquired when one of the soldiers hit her in the head with the butt of his rifle.  
  
"I told you," said Rhiannon, in a terrified voice, "I can't explain what my other job is."  
  
"Why not?!" snapped Scarlet, brandishing her hand.  
  
"It's supposed to be a secret," muttered the girl, looking at the floor and closing her eyes, ready for another slap, but it never came.   
  
"I see the slaps aren't getting through to you," said the woman in a cold tone, "Maybe I should try something more painful." She looked over at one of the soldiers. "One of you, find me a whip."  
  
"I don't think we have any around here," stated one of the soldiers.  
  
"Then go and get one," snarled Scarlet, her eyes looking fierce and angry, she looked over at the window, "Ah, it's almost dark. Your defiance is strong, girl." She smirked at her silver-haired captive. "We've been at this for hours and you have yet to crack. Though, I don't think you'd be able to stand much of a whip."  
  
There was a sudden uproar near the front of the building and a few soldiers ran past, screaming in fear. Irritated by the interruption, Scarlet grabbed one of them and dragged him into the room.  
  
"What is the meaning of this?!" she demanded, letting go of the soldier.  
  
"C... Crazy general S... Sephiroth c... Came back from the d.... Dead!" stammered the soldier, looking around as though expecting to see the man standing right next to him.   
  
"What are you talking about?" asked Scarlet, staring at him.  
  
"He's attacking the squads with two other people!" squeaked the soldier.  
  
Scarlet grumbled something and walked over to Rhiannon. "We'll finish this later." She turned back to the soldier. "You! Untie the girl and take her up to the attic. It's secure there. Don't forget to tie her hands behind her back." She left the room and moved toward the front room.  
  
         The soldier jumped up quickly and followed the woman's orders. Rhiannon's wrists were tied back together behind her back and she was led toward the stairs. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of light and a black cape whipped out of sight at the end of the hall. The girl almost stopped out of curiosity, but the soldier shoved her through the door and directed her upstairs. He pushed her into a small room and as she stumbled in, the girl tripped over a box and went crashing to the floor. The frightened man ignored her and stood at the door to keep watch. Rhiannon scooted to a corner and sat there, feeling pain throb in various parts of her body. Two earsplitting roars outside were followed by loud stomps and the house shaking. The soldier shrieked and bolted from the room, leaving the girl behind.  
  
"Wait!" she exclaimed, but the soldier had already disappeared, "I hope whatever is attacking doesn't plan on destroying the house..." Using the wall, Rhiannon slowly got to her feet, but she nearly fell over again from the pain in her leg.   
  
         There was a loud crash behind her and Rhiannon turned to see a portion of the room torn away. She slowly moved over to the open section and saw that the missing portion went all the way down to ground level. The girl realized that there were some soldiers fighting a figure clothed in black below the area. The figure shoved several of the soldiers back and glanced up. A man with silver hair a few shades lighter than her own, was staring up at her with an equally surprised look on his face. Rhiannon found that she couldn't tear her eyes away from the man below.  
  
_Who is he?_ she thought in amazement. There was a clatter at the door and she felt herself get dragged away from the new opening.   
  
         Sephiroth had a feeling of exhilaration as he fought the soldiers off and he had to admit, they were better trained than most of the men he had once worked with. There was a roar as Sanctus got carried away and tore down a section of the house on all three levels. The man moved over to the open area, but as he forced some of the soldiers back, Sephiroth had a feeling that someone was watching him. He looked up and saw a girl with silver hair that was darker than his, but part of her hair was shocking white.   
  
_Who is she?_ He thought, pausing for a moment to stare at her, but saw her get dragged out of sight. Feeling like this was the person he had been looking for, the man began to battle the soldiers again.  
  
         Back upstairs, Rhiannon was trying to get out of the grip of whom ever had grabbed her, but hands turned her around and she looked up to see Caine. He took a knife from his belt and cut the ropes from the girl's wrists. She rubbed them gently and stretched her arms a bit. When she felt like her muscles were properly stretched, Rhiannon turned back to Caine with a look of confusion in her eyes. However, the man had a sincere, apologetic expression on his face.   
  
"I told Scarlet to talk to you, not to torture you," he muttered, his eyes sweeping over each injury, "I'll have to punish her for that. I'm sorry."   
  
"Sorry, sir," snickered a voice behind them, "I have other plans."  
  
The two turned to see Scarlet standing there with a whip in one hand and three soldiers behind her.   
  
"Scarlet," said Caine in an angry tone, "What are you talking about?"   
  
"It seems you don't know how valuable this girl's information is," replied Scarlet in a sly tone, "Since you're going to interfere so much. I'm having you detained in a room until I finish interrogating her."  
  
"You bitch," growled Caine, starting toward the woman, but two of the soldiers grabbed him by the arms and dragged him back.  
  
Scarlet laughed in a way that made Rhiannon cringe. "Now then, you're next." She gazed at the girl with a smug look on her face, but Rhiannon backed away toward the edge of the open area. "Don't be a fool, girl. You move back any further and you'll fall off."   
  
         As she moved forward, the girl still backed away and soon she was on the very edge of the floor. She looked behind her and saw the man below fighting the soldiers. Rhiannon turned her head back to see the third soldier lunge at her, but he missed and knocked her off of the edge. She shrieked as she started falling and threw out her right hand, catching the broken end of a board and cringed as the wood dug into her hand. As Scarlet and the soldier walked toward the end, the wood splintered under the weight and her hand slipped from it. With a scream, the girl closed her eyes as she plummeted toward the ground, but she never felt herself hit.   
  
         Below, Sephiroth had chased away most of the soldiers, yet a few lingered to continue battle. A shriek above them caught all of their attention and heads turned up to see what was going on. The man saw the girl he had seen earlier, dangling from the edge of the broken floor. He move back a bit to see a horribly familiar woman and a soldier walking toward her. There was a sharp crack as the wood on the end splintered and the girl dropped from the level, screaming. The few soldiers left scrambled away as Sephiroth sprinted over to where the girl was falling and with a stroke of luck, caught her before she hit.   
  
"Good save, Sephiroth!" boomed Sanctus after he had returned to human form.   
  
         Close up, the girl seemed different to Sephiroth. One of these factors was the fact that she had two wolf ears sticking out of her hair and the other was the wolf tail behind her. Rhiannon opened her eyes when she felt the falling sensation stop and saw that she was alive. The pair of scared blue-violet eyes moved up to meet a pair of started mako green eyes. The girl felt her heart skip a beat and a spark of familiarity run through her mind as she stared up at Sephiroth's face. The silence was broken by an angry outburst from the attic room where Rhiannon had fallen from.   
  
"Get them, you idiots!" screeched Scarlet, pointing at Sephiroth and Rhiannon.   
  
"Time to leave," said Spirita, walking in front of the two from out of no where, "Sanctus, dear, we have to go."  
  
The white haired man walked over to the group and stood opposite his wife. "Shall we do a vanishing act?"   
  
Spirita nodded and the two clasped their hands together around Sephiroth and Rhiannon. The woman spoke. "Abeo#!" This word caused a light to surround the group and all four of them disappeared, leaving several dumbstruck soldiers behind.   
  
# # # # # # # # # # # # # #   
  
# - Abeo means 'vanish' in latin  
  
Yes, Scarlet's alive and still a hateful character. -.-() And yep, instead of giving Rufus a brother or bringing him back, I create his attractive cousin, Caine. XD His name is supposed to mean 'Shade or Shadow Hunter' You'll find out why I wanted it to mean that later.   
  
Rhiannon's so cute when she doesn't understand something XD Especially when it comes to figures of speech. heheh. Sanctus was a delinquent when he was a young deity.   
  
Anyway. The chapter is all done! Whoo! And it's 13 pages x.x gaaah.  
  
SNEAK PEEK:   
  
- What is Rhiannon supposed to get from the crater anyway?  
  
- Sephiroth and Rhiannon have finally met and now they finally have their first fight. It's about... Nicknames?   
  
- While Rhiannon snoozes, Sanctus and Spirita have a little chat with Sephiroth.   
  


  



End file.
